A Potential Atlantic County Board of Elections Scandal is Brewing

In a previous report, I reviewed that the Atlantic County Board of Elections has done a very poor job managing the vote counting of the recent mostly vote by mail election.

Other counties around the state have done a much better job, apparently because they did much better pre-planning and they’ve worked longer hours each day and night since last Tuesday’s Primary Election.

Case in point. Yesterday, the Superintendent of Elections worked last night past 11:00 p.m. by direct comparison, the Board of Elections finished their day at 5:00 p.m.

There’s just no sense of urgency. And, the situation appears to be getting far worse.

In a WPG Talk Radio 95.5 “Hurley in the Morning” exclusive, Hamilton Township Deputy Mayor Charles Cain dropped a blockbuster, live on-the-air, beginning at 9:35 a.m. this morning.

Mayor Cain confirmed on-air that a yet-to-be named Atlantic County Board of Election employee appears to have gone into the count room and scanned and counted thousands of election ballots by him/her self.

To preserve the sanctity and integrity of the election, their protocols call for a “two key” operation. In other words, two people must be present to count/scan the ballots and not just one.

I pressed Mayor Cain and said, “You know who this person is, don’t you? Mayor Cain confirmed without hesitation that he does know the identity of the person in question.

But, he wants to be fair. So, he wouldn’t provide a name at this time.

It appears that this one person scanned between 3,000 to 4,000 ballots according to Cain.

Mayor Cain also confirmed that he will be filing an OPRA request to obtain the video of the act.

I questioned what happens if the video “disappears”? Cain confirmed that there are multiple people who can confirm this solo act took place.

Additionally, The Press of Atlantic City confirmed yesterday that 1,200 Atlantic County ballots were misread by the scanner.

Apparently, if the ballot is not properly flattened, a fold can take place. It can cover one of the candidate voting ovals and the result would be an over vote.

An over vote is when a person casts votes for more than one person for the exact same office.

Cain also confirmed that he will be writing to Board of Elections Members and a particular staff member regarding his concerns about their poor performance.

In yet another disturbing development, we have learned that the Board of Elections was offered help all during the process and repeatedly refused any assistance.

The available help was highly competent National Guard personnel and staff from the Superintendent of Elections office.

Yesterday, help was moved in to help the Board of Elections from The Superintendent of Elections office.

Cain confirmed in real time this morning, that there were only two people opening ballots during today’s late 9:00 a.m. hour.

Finally, Cain confirmed that he Will be introducing legislation at the local Hamilton Township level, to provide Hamilton Township voters with the opportunity to vote at the polling place in the upcoming Tuesday, November 3, 2020 general election.

Because there are so many decisions that have to be made within the next four weeks, I believe it is all but certain that the November 3, 2020 general election will once again be ordered to be a mostly vote by mail election.

Many people do not have confidence that their vote will count using this process. They prefer to cast their vote inside a voting machine.

Cain expects to have more information, when he appears this Monday, July 13, 2020 on “Hurley in the Morning” during the 9:00 a.m. hour.

Throughout this morning’s interview, it was obvious that Cain knew a lot more than he was willing to reveal at this time.

Cain is waiting for the video and additional information that is forthcoming.

This is a developing and potentially deeply disturbing public scandal.

ADDENDUM:
Friday, July 10, 2020
1:45 p.m.

Incredulously, The Atlantic County Board of Elections has ended the vote counting for the day, at 1:45 p.m.

Mayor Cain has confirmed that they will not resume counting votes until Tuesday, July 14, 2020.

It’s almost unbelievable at this point.