Atlantic County, NJ, Clerk Did Not Make Vote-by-Mail Mistake

A letter that was included in the envelope that contained thousands of vote-by-mail ballots. The instructional letter provided the incorrect election date.

Hours before he did so, I predicted on-air that Atlantic County Democrat Chairman Michael Suleiman would pounce on this and try to score political points.

The predictable Suleiman did not disappoint, writing:

This is yet another embarrassing example of election-related incompetence in Atlantic County that makes us all look bad. Had this happened under a Democratic County Clerk, the other side would be apoplectic right now. Instead, Republicans are using their error as a reason to disparage Vote by Mail and early voting, which is unconscionable, said Suleiman, who rarely misses an opportunity to be partisan.

The truth is, Atlantic County Clerk and Atlantic County Republicans are not to blame.

The outside printer has already taken full responsibility for this letter being placed in the ballot envelope (see below).

The printer is paying to correct the Vote-By-Mail issue that they caused.

As Giralo promised on-air with yesterday that he would do, promptly completed an investigation into the circumstances resulting in an error on the instruction card that was mailed out with approximately 24,000 Vote-By-Mail ballots.

"The printing company has acknowledged printing the instruction cards with the wrong return date of November 7 instead of November 5 which is Election Day this year," explained Giralo. "Most importantly, the company has agreed to cover the cost of printing and mailing a corrective post card to all those who have requested Vote-By-Mail ballots. Our county taxpayers will not pay for this unfortunate human error." County Executive Dennis Levinson confirmed that the County Clerk was not at fault.

"It is refreshing to see those responsible for the mistake accept their role and take action to correct it, and without any cost to our taxpayers," said Levinson.

"I would also add that Joe Giralo is one of the hardest working elected officials we have. He is meticulous in everything he does. We have had very few, if any problems, originating from the Clerk's Office under his direction. Our residents can have the utmost confidence in his abilities."

Giralo emphasized that no mistakes occurred on the printing of the Vote-By-Mail ballots.

"All the files we provided to the printer were correct and were reviewed by multiple staff,"said Giralo.

"There is no problem with the Vote-By-Mail ballots, only the instruction cards. Vote-By-Mail ballots must be returned by 8 PM on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5, said Giralo.

Giralo will he spending the entire 7:00 a.m. hour with us on-air on Thursday, September 26, 2024 to address the error and communicate to the public exactly what steps he is taking … so that no voters will be disenfranchised.

Since the letter above incorrectly states that Election Day is November 7th, Giralo has a plan to communicate with those affected … to assure them that Election Day is November 5, 2024.

"All the files we provided to the printer were correct and were reviewed by multiple staff," said Giralo.

"There is no problem with the Vote-By-Mail ballots, only the instruction cards. Vote-By-Mail ballots must be returned by 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. All drop boxes will be locked at that time,” said Giralo.

The respected and popular Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson immediately came to Giralo’s defense.

“This human error by the outside printer is unfortunate, it is avoidable,” said Levinson, who does not believe that there is a need for early voting or vote-by-mail.

"These efforts to expand voting opportunities are rife for abuse and fraud, extremely costly and unnecessary. We should have one Election Day to ensure the integrity of our processes," said Levinson.

"We 'fixed' what wasn't broken with our voting system,” said Levinson.

If you have any questions about the Vote-By-Mail ballot process, you may call the Atlantic County Clerk's Office at (609) 625-4011.

SOURCES: Joe Giralo, Dennis Levinson & Linda Gilmore.