ELECTIONS

New Jersey election will be held mostly by mail in November, governor says

Voters in New Jersey will cast their ballots this fall to decide the next president and whether marijuana will be legal mostly through mail in an attempt to keep the coronavirus from spreading, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.   

It would be the third vote-by-mail election since the pandemic hit the state in March, but the November contest is expected to pose extra challenges given President Donald Trump's refusal to provide extra funding to the United States Postal Service for an expected surge in ballots. 

"We're going to extend that model into the general election in November," Murphy said. "We're going to have a hybrid model in November. We liked what we saw" in the primary, he added, "we'll tweak it and that's where we're headed." 

More details about the plan, first reported by NJ Globe, are expected at Murphy's coronavirus briefing in Trenton on Friday. But he said on CNN's "New Day" Friday morning that there will be some capacity for in-person voting and secure drop boxes for ballots. 

Murphy has called mail-in voting in local elections this spring and in the July 7 primary mostly a success, but they have not gone entirely smoothly. An alleged voter fraud scheme led to four arrests in Paterson. Delivery was also an issue, with some ballots misdelivered, dumped in building lobbies and caught on fire. In both elections, there was mostly mail-in voting with limited voting at polling locations. 

He was confident Friday that the upcoming election will run with few issues and does not have concerns about voter fraud. 

There are 6.2 million registered voters in New Jersey and they will all get ballots, Murphy said. Nearly 1.5 million voters cast ballots in the July 7 primary, but primaries tend to draw much smaller turnout than general elections.

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The presidential contest between Trump and his presumptive Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, tops the ticket but there are many other notable contests and a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana and delay legislative redistricting if U.S. Census results are delayed. 

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is seeking to retain his seat against Republican challenger Rik Mehta. The Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew is defending his seat against Amy Kennedy in the 2nd Congressional District. Freshman Democratic Rep. Andy Kim faces a challenge by Republican David Richter. And Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer is seeking another term against Republican Frank Pallotta. 

How it's done:A walk through of what it takes to count every mail-in ballot in NJ

'It's a mess':Paterson voter fraud just a taste of mail-in ballot issues plaguing New Jersey

Every election is framed in historic terms, but the upcoming contest is unlike any other in recent history. It is being carried out in a pandemic, for starters, but voters in New Jersey will also decide whether marijuana will be legalized after years of stalled efforts between Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Phil Murphy.

And then Trump said he intends to starve funding to the Postal Service that Democrats say is needed for a surge in ballots. 

“They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots.” Trump said Thursday. “If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.”

Biden accused Trump of trying to sabotage the election. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Dustin Racioppi is a reporter in the New Jersey Statehouse. For unlimited access to his work covering New Jersey’s governor and political power structure, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: racioppi@northjersey.com Twitter: @dracioppi