Cherry Hill voters who received mail-in ballots can use them as planned after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's attempt to impose new postal rules on ballot delivery.
The court voted 7-2 on Sept. 14 to refuse the administration's request to lift a District Court injunction that had stopped a new U.S. Postal Service rule from taking effect, NJ Spotlight News reported. A majority of justices determined the federal government was unlikely to prevail in the case.
The blocked rule would have required states to give postal officials lists of voters receiving mail ballots and have the USPS approve ballot envelope designs with trackable barcodes before delivering them.
Despite the ruling, some county clerks across New Jersey said they received calls from dozens of voters wanting off the automatic mail-in ballot list. Nuzhat Chowdhury of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice said voters are confused about whether the legal fight affects their registration, especially since New Jersey lacks same-day voter registration.
Erik Cruz Morales of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey urged voters Tuesday, Sept. 22, not to let misinformation or confusion prevent them from casting a ballot. He said nothing has changed: voters still have three options, including mail-in ballots, early in-person voting and Election Day voting. For those mailing ballots back, the Union County Democratic Committee recommends sending them at least seven days before the Nov. 3 election. Voters mailing a ballot during the final week should bring it to the postal counter and ask a worker to hand-stamp the postmark, Chowdhury said, to ensure it reaches the county board of elections on time.
Cherry Hill drop boxes and early voting
Camden County has 30 secure, monitored drop box locations available around the clock through the close of polls, according to the county's drop box page. Cherry Hill has two:
- Camden County College, Rohrer Campus — 1889 Marlton Pike East
- Cherry Hill Library — 1100 Kings Highway North
Both are monitored by video surveillance. Ballots collected from drop boxes are handled by one Democratic and one Republican party member, who deliver the sealed ballots to the election office, Camden County Clerk Pamela Lampitt said, according to The Retrospect.
Early voting runs Oct. 24 through Nov. 1, according to Cherry Hill Township's website. Election Day is Nov. 3, with polls open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voters who received a mail-in ballot but prefer to vote in person can cast a provisional paper ballot at a polling site during early voting or on Election Day.
Ballots already in the mail
The Camden County Clerk's Office delivered more than 96,000 mail-in ballots to the Bellmawr Post Office in mid-September, covering about one in four of the county's roughly 360,000 registered voters. Lampitt said on Sept. 14 that her office waited to confirm Gloucester County's ballots arrived before sending Camden County's batch. "We could have dropped ours a little bit earlier, but we wanted to wait and see whether or not the households in Gloucester County actually received their ballots, and they did," she said, according to NJ Pen.
All ballots were expected to reach homes after Sept. 20, according to the county clerk's office.
A federal Inspector General report released Sept. 4 found that about 10,000 Camden County mail-in ballots mailed in April for the June primary were inadvertently trucked to Memphis, Tennessee, before being shipped back. Those ballots were delivered in time for the primary.
Rep. Herb Conaway, who represents South Jersey's 3rd Congressional District, said his office has fielded calls from constituents about mail-in ballot concerns.
The voter registration deadline is Oct. 13. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 27.
