An Entire New Jersey Election Must Be Reheld After Discovery of Missing Ballots

A New Jersey township lost ballots, thus many votes were never counted. This requires a fresh election. Differences in the final count caused the issue. This led the court to invalidate the first results.

The missing votes were found in an audit following the campaign. It showed no vote groupings were delivered to the center for counting. The election officials stated the lost votes could have impacted a few close races. The court judge wanted to overturn the last election and hold a fresh one.

Shock and rage filled the community. Many thought the findings were conclusive. Some applicants worried about the process’s fairness. They claimed that not counting votes reduces election trust. The election officials apologized and will investigate the votes.

Legal experts say it doesn’t happen often, but it has happened before: an entire election needs to be held again because of missing votes. Courts usually check if absent ballots could influence the outcomes or cast doubt on them. The narrow margins in some elections make the missing ballots crucial. State election law allows courts to compel a revote when things go wrong.

This kind of mistake won’t happen again, thus the city or municipality will have to arrange a new election date, increase security for votes, and amend the rules. Voters and candidates will closely monitor the recount to ensure it is transparent, honest, and trustworthy.

Sources

• report on a New Jersey town redoing an election due to missing votes

• Ballotpedia information on redo elections and legal background