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MAYS LANDING Democrats are criticizing Atlantic County Clerk Joe Giralo, a Republican, over what they call delays in getting mail-in ballots out for the June 7 primary, and for not posting sample vote-by-mail ballots to the web page.

But Giralo said Thursday his office has done an amazing job of meeting every state deadline, even though a federal lawsuit challenging use of the "county line" on ballots wasn't settled until the last minute, leaving clerks unable to finalize layouts.

"The vote-by-mail ballots didnt hit (get delivered) until about 10 days after commencement date," said Atlantic County Democratic Chair Michael Suleiman on Thursday. "We are one of the only counties without a vote-by-mail sample on the website."

Giralo said he commenced the mailing a day before he was required to by law, dropping off 3,788 ballots to the Mays Landing post office himself.

He posted photos April 19 of himself preparing the ballots for mailing to his Facebook page.

Most of the rest of about 30,000 mail-in-ballots were mailed by the printer through a third-party mailer, Giralo said.

"We have met every statute, even with what we were up against we still managed to meet every deadline in this office," Giralo said.

On April 17, a federal appeals court affirmed a lower court's decision ordering New Jersey Democrats to stop using the county line design. Clerks had just two days to finalize new ballots, get them printed and start mailing them.

The new "office block" format for vote-by-mail ballots is easy to read, according to Atlantic County Clerk Joe Giralo, and going out to voters on about 20,000 vote-by-mail ballots now.

State law requires mailing begin by 45 days before the June 7 election, which was April 20. It does not require all mail-in ballots to go out by then, and does not require delivery by a specific date.

Giralo said he is not posting sample vote-by-mail ballots to the web page because they are different than the regular sample ballots and may cause confusion.

He and his staff are proofreading 60+ regular sample ballots for all municipalities, and those will be posted as soon as the proofing is done, he said.

The office just got the proofs to examine Wednesday, Giralo said.

He also willbe posting the machine fronts online, to show voters exactly what they will see this year when they vote in the primary.

The website does, however, now have a list of primary candidates.

Other counties in South Jersey do have sample vote-by-mail ballots on their websites, including Cape May, Cumberland and Camden counties.

Ocean County does not, but like Atlantic has a list of primary candidates.

A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower courts decision to order New Jersey Democrats to scrap a ballot design widely viewed as helping candidates with establishment backing.

Suleiman, who said he didn't get his mail-in ballot until April 29, said his Open Public Records Act request for proof of the mailing of all of the ballots was denied.

Giralo said he doesn't have that proof, as it is in the hands of a third party mailer contracted by the county's printer.

"People had already received them Saturday (April 21) in Buena," Giralo said. "We have no control (over how long they take to be delivered) after they leave here."

Suleiman also said there was a mistake on some mail-in ballots sent to Brigantine, with an unopposed Democratic City Council candidate in the 4th Ward mistakenly listed as a 1st Ward candidate.

But Giralo said that was not his office's mistake.

"It was an unfortunate mistake made by the municipal clerk," Giralo said. "She certified the candidate in the wrong ward."

The Brigantine clerk's office confirmed the mistake was theirs Thursday.

Giralo called Lynn Sweeney a "great clerk" and said "a mistake can happen to anybody."

The new Democratic chairman of the Atlantic County Board of Elections says he's facing space and manpower shortages that could threaten the security of the presidential election, while a Republican leader claims a hostile work environment is the real problem there.

"Rick DeLucry has been on council for well over 10 years. Someone in the clerk's office ... could and should have caught that he was listed in the wrong ward," Suleiman countered.

Corrected ballots have already gone out to about 160 voters in Brigantine's 1st and 4th wards, Giralo said. If a voter returns both the original and the corrected ballot, the corrected one will be counted.

If only the incorrect ballot is returned, it will be counted for all offices above the ward races, he said.

Giralo is going out most nights to community groups explaining what this year's ballots will look like and why the change was required.

"Since the vote-by-mails went out, we have fielded hundreds of phone calls. People are very confused," Giralo said.

The office block format lists candidates under the office sought. They are listed in random order determined by a drawing.

In the past, candidates were listed under slogans for groups supporting them. The "county line" advantage went to those supported by county organizations, so local candidates endorsed by the party were listed under leaders for president, national and state office, giving them what critics have called an unfair advantage.

Giralo said he decided to scrap the county line for Republicans as well, to organize both parties' ballots the same and save time and money for county taxpayers.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post

609-841-2895

mpost@pressofac.com

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Link:
Atlantic County Democrats want faster mailing of ballots - Press of Atlantic City