New Jersey to Use Paper Ballots for Fire District Elections

Back to paper ballots for fire district elections

Saturday, February 07, 2009 The Trenton Times
BY RYAN TRACY

HAMILTON -- Decades ago, Gil Lugossy stashed away the Rusling Hose fire company's wooden ballot box.

Residents of Hamilton Fire District 3 tossed their votes into the locked box for years, but it had become an antique, replaced by machines that eliminated the need to count ballots by hand.

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Hamilton's fire districts normally rent voting machines from Mercer County, but the machines cannot be used because they don't meet new requirements for paper records.
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The township's nine fire districts, along with others who typically use Mercer County's Sequoia Voting Systems machines, will have no other option but to use paper ballots when their budgets are submitted for voter approval Feb. 21....

The districts were informed last month that state officials are enforcing a law currently on the books requiring all voting machines to produce a paper record by Jan. 1, 2009.

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District 6, home of the White Horse Fire Co., has printed 250 ballots, giving itself a cushion over the 117 voters who cast ballots last year, Szabo said.

Despite what might only be a trickle of voters, the use of paper ballots could cause delays -- especially in the time it takes to count votes after polls close.

A bill delaying the paper trail requirement until state or federal funding is secured to pay for the changes passed the state assembly on Thursday.

The state senate has not yet voted on it, but Monroe expected movement before March, when some areas of the state might hold special elections.

"They're working on (the bill) now, and I understand some parts of the state have special elections for March, and that should be reversed by then," Monroe said. "We will be able to use (the voting machines) in the school board election" in April.