Atlantic County election officials to decide fate of ballots delayed by post office dispute
Atlantic County election officials will meet Wednesday to decide whether to count 24 vote-by-mail ballots caught in an unusual dispute with the U.S. Postal Service after the agency refused to deliver ballot cure letters because the county allegedly owed postage dating back to the all VBM elections conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic six years ago.
Atlantic County Board of Elections Chairman Creed Pogue has called a special meeting to decide whether to count the disputed ballots. The board will consider rejecting three ballots tied to cure letters postmarked after the June 10 deadline and hand-counting those connected to cure letters with timely postmarks.
The controversy stems from 24 ballot cure letters that election officials say were delayed after the Postal Service withheld delivery over an alleged unpaid balance from 2020, when New Jersey conducted its elections almost entirely by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The delay prevented voters from receiving notice that they needed to correct deficiencies on their mail ballots until it was nearly too late, raising concerns that eligible voters could lose their votes through no fault of their own. All of these ballots were postmarked on time.
https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/atlantic-county-election-officials-to-decide-fate-of-ballots-delayed-by-post-office-dispute/