Election Update: Bergen County Resident Submission

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Margaret Frontera called me at 12:21 pm today. She is a Republican Commissioner for the Bergen County Board of Elections. The first thing discussed was the media calling an election that is not official, as counting is far from over. She stressed it is not the media who makes the final call and that they are not pleased about it.

I asked, "Why then didn't the Board issue a press release stating the election wasn't final? Don't you control the process?" It was something that they didn't think of and haven't done in the past. She said the commissioners are having a meeting later today with the Superintendent of Elections and that she would bring this up.

I told her to the general public, perception is reality and it is important to push back publicly for the integrity of the election. Such a statement should be sent to all media outlets directly, followed up by phone calls and released on their website and social media channels.

I told her Murphy was on stage celebrating last night. She said, "He is going to do what he's going to do." I cut her off and stated, why should we as the people and you as an election official be on your knees? That is not acceptable.

It blew her away because it was something she admitted to never thinking about. She stated, "The Governor can not be sworn in until the election process is FINAL." At this time, 48,038 mail in ballots have been counted in Bergen County and they have a lot more to count. The total number of eligible voters in the County is 682,138. The voter turnout at the moment is 39.79% Countywide.

People can go in person to watch the count, but need to stand in a certain spot. Visibility would not be favorable. She said that they do have a livestream set up on the website. I have not viewed that at the moment.

Interesting point of emphasis on her part, the State of NJ has a mandatory audit of all mail-in ballots. I believe that began last year with all the voting changes. They will continue to receive un-postmarked ballots until 8 pm Friday. All ballots placed in various ballot boxes throughout the County were picked at 8 pm on Election night. All the boxes were empty on a follow-up visit later that evening.

MAJOR POINT OF EMPHASIS: ONLY A SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE CAN ORDER A RECOUNT. The question she posed after stating that was: "What kind of recount would it be?" The last recount in a Gubernatorial Election in NJ, 1981, for Tom Kane. The recount was not for the entire state, it was specific to districts in Newark. ENTIRE RECOUNT (all of NJ) has never occurred. She was of the opinion that a Superior Court Judge would never issue a statewide recount.

An important point she brought up is not every county in the state has a Superintendent of Elections. Bergen County, having the largest population of any county in NJ does. This was a lesson for me. If you haven't already, learn about the different distinctions and roles each election division plays. It is layered like everything else in govt. Overall, she appeared to be transparent.