UPDATE: Pulling this back up top so we can hear from some of our late-day readers. Polls close in 2.5 hours and some people who vote after work are trickling in, except for some hotspots where the trickle's a little heavier. We're hearing that some of the 35 robo-calls that Gov. Christie recorded are being used to call Democrats - to depress the vote. If you got any of these calls, in LD-18 or anywhere else, we'd really love to hear about it, in the comments.
What's going on where you are? Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you don't know your polling place, find it here. If that doesn't work, call your county clerk.
If you've already voted, call or email your friends and neighbors and remind them to do the same. Share your voting experience in the comments or send it in to tips@bluejersey.com. How's turnout by you?
Progressive Candidates: Every seat in both houses of the NJ legislature is up, and you can take that as a referendum on Christie's governance if you want to. I'll hold back from doing that because there are fewer clearly progressive choices than we want. Among them, two are in recently reconfigured districts. And that adds some strength behind two I'm particularly watching; LD-16 Marie Corfield & LD-11 Vin Gopal.
Battleground Districts: We're watching Democrats running a defensive play in LD-38, with record-breaking spending in a district not redrawn in favor of the Democratic incumbents Bob Gordon, Connie Wagner and Tim Eustace. And the Jim Whelan-Vince Polistina Senate contest in LD-2. Live in either district? We'd love to hear how turnout looks where you voted.
Local elections: If we want progressive candidates to rise, building the bench at the local level is essential. Good luck to forward-thinking muni candidates.
After Election Day: Shifts in leadership are likely to come in both Houses, assuming Democrats retain majority. In the Assembly they may come as early as Thursday. Sheila Oliver has already scheduled a Democratic caucus to select leadership, swapping in Lou Greenwald for Joe Cryan on her leadership slate, a power play to slow the challenge to her leadership from Cryan, who distinguished himself this year by opposing the pen-ben deal that Oliver was essential to. In the lame duck session, the long knives are out for public education; they'll call it 'reform'.
Got pictures? Busy campaign office? Vols at the phones? Candidate and GOTV crews surrounded by empty pizza boxes? Send them in and we'll post some of them later.
New Jersey is unique in so many ways, not the least of which is our 4-year election cycle. Unlike most other states, which combine their federal and state races and take a break every other year, we have critical elections each and every year. But, unfortunately, we have a hard time keeping voters' attention, so the cycle ends up looking like this:
Year One: the Presidential Year - even in years where the outcome is a foregone conclusion, voters will come out to register their choice. In 2008, NJ voter turnout was 73%.
Year Two: the Gubernatorial Year - one of only two states that elect their governor the year after electing a president, turnout drops off significantly, but there's still pretty good participation. In 2009, NJ voter turnout was 47%.
Year Three: the Midterms - whether a referendum on the President, or the Congress, the midterms carry national attention, but never seem to draw the same voter participation. Despite the highly charged atmosphere in 2010, NJ voter turnout was only 43%.
And now Year Four: the Legislative Election - the entire legislative branch of government in our state is up for election - all 40 Senate seats, all 80 Assembly seats. And, what kind of turnout should we expect? Well, if history serves as a guide - in 2007, NJ voter turnout was a paltry 32%.
This went up just before the weekend news roundup, so I'm pulling it up top for those who missed it. - Rosi
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno may have been successful in denying the voters of the Eighth Legislative District a choice in their next state senator, but former candidate and nine time Olympic Gold Medal winner Carl Lewis still has his oar in the water (sorry for the mixed metaphor!) of New Jersey politics.
Blue Jersey caught up with the World's Fastest Man at a GOTV rally last night in Willingboro. Our interview is below. Carl Lewis explains why he's not a politician, he excoriates 7th District Senator Diane Allen for her politically-motivated vote against women, correlates the Occupy Movement with New Jersey politics, and explains why voting is important. Below the fold is a video of Lewis' remarks to the crowd.
I returned a short while ago from casting my first-ever vote at the Union County Courthouse. While it was a unique and at times fun experience, I don't recommend it to anyone who can vote in person. While my story is worth retelling, it's not one you want to experience first-hand!
Since I'm going to be taking a final exam later today at my graduate school, I was unable to make it back to Berkeley Heights to vote in today's School Board election. Accordingly, I sent it my Vote-by-Mail request form to the Union County Clerk's office, asking for a ballot to be sent to my house.
Unfortunately the mail was slow in arriving at the Clerk's office, and although I submitted my request in advance I did not receive a ballot in the mail. That's where my story gets interesting...
Promoted by Rosi, who is supporting a woman candidate in the shiny, new LD-16, Marie Corfield. Go, women, go!
Over the last several months, WPCNJ has been at the forefront of the campaign to raise awareness of the status of women as the most under-represented segment of our population.
In her testimony at a redistricting hearing, WPCNJ Democratic Task Force Chair Shari Weiner urged the members of the Commission to "Remember the Women." In light of the adoption of the new Legislative map, the Women's Political Caucus of New Jersey now calls on New Jersey's Democratic and Republican party leaders to heed the same call to "Remember the Women" when making party endorsements for the 2011 legislative elections.
Academic research and real world experience have proven that women legislators make a significant and positive difference. Better laws are passed; civility is restored to the legislative body; and the legislature is more representative of the citizens of New Jersey, more than half of whom are women.
Open seats provide tremendous opportunities for party leaders to unite behind women candidates. I urge state party chairmen Wisniewski and Raia and county party leaders to promote women when making these decisions.
Former Republican Assemblywoman Rose Heck recently said, "Thirty four women serve in the state legislature. Due to the changes in the legislative map, I fear that incumbent women are in jeopardy of losing their seats through political maneuvering. We cannot let the state go backward!"
We understand Senator Nick Sacco and Senator Paul Sarlo are actively supporting women candidates for their open seats. We commend the Senators for their efforts and we urge others to do the same.
Women should be encouraged and supported in their efforts to enter the world of politics and become elected officials. Political parties can and MUST actively work to remove the barriers to participation.
With power comes responsibility. Parity will not be achieved without a deliberate effort to recruit, train, and advance women. It is incumbent upon leaders to LEAD.
Lisa Mizrahi Kaado
President, Women's Political Caucus of New Jersey
Last night Dancing With The Stars proved to be more about politics than a Paso doble - so we all need to get to the dancefloor post haste.
Dancing With The Stars is the American version of the BBC series "Strictly Come Dancing," it features professional dancers paired with celebrities who are eliminated weekly for a chance at the coveted mirror ball trophy. Three professional judges score the performances and once the show ends phone lines and email exchanges open so the public can vote for their favourites. This is where the teaparty tango comes in.
One of the celebrities featured this go around is teen activist Bristol Palin who, for the most part has two left feet, well, given where her family stands politically, they are two right feet. Her performances have improved but not so much so to merit getting this far in the competition. It's no surprise that the teaparty folks are her primary supporters.
Last evening viewers saw front runner pop star Brandy eliminated from the competition and Bristol go on to the finals. Shock doesn't even begin to describe the reaction of most fans of the show.
As the morning opened today, and the blogosphere started to do the Wednesday Morning Watusi the power of the teaparty became evident. One of the fatal flaws in the email voting component of Dancing With The Stars is that someone doesn't even need a valid email to vote : voters just need something that looks like an email address to vote until their fingers give up. In theory someone can vote as "bluejersey@bristol.com, bluejersey@bristolfan.com, bluejersey@asdfjkl.com, or anything else that appears to be an email address. People don't even need to watch the show to vote, Los Angeles radio presenter Tammy Bruce posted the phone numbers for her listeners to vote for Bristol.
But it's only a dance show. But it's not. The results of last nights Dancing With The Stars is a sloppy Quick Step into the workings of the teaparty mobs.
Imagine if someone claimed a teacher made an apparent racist remark and it got into the hands of the national teaparty operatives. Oh yeah, that happened, and despite the teacher doing nothing wrong the media frenzy created by the teaparty caused irrepairable harm to a highly honored special education teacher.
Imagine the ruckus these teaparty people can create in our schools. Across the country we have seen them protest the Commander in Chief's annual "stay in school" message twice already. Whimpy school boards like Nutley NJ caved to their demands. (seriously, "stay in school" is a bad thing?) But they showed up, they screamed, they shouted, and they won. Just like on Dancing With The Stars.
Letter writing campaigns, threatening calls to school administrators, protests to pull 'subversive' books out of the public library : they are all within the reach of the teaparty and while there may not be a lot of those people in your community, what if the locals stirred the pot nationally? What if, just like the Bristol Dancing fiasco, the mob from around the country bombard your school board, your library, your condo board? That much hate directed in one place sometimes causes people to cave into their demands, just as they did with the Obama "Stay In School" message.
Brandy may have been tossed out of the competition of a dance show, but these teaparty tactics, if left unguarded, will push the rest of us off the dancefloor.
In this morning's News Roundup, we had a link to a Press of Atlantic City piece about voter anger, speculating who might be the winners and losers of that 2010 cycle phenomenon.
So, today's second Quote of the Day - and perspective - is from the NJ-6 incumbent, the only Dem staring down a well-financed Tea Party candidate in New Jersey today. Via politickernj:
There's a lot of anger this year," he said, although misdirected. "I just wish that the Tea Party anger would be directed at the special interests...that I think caused these problems. - Rep. Frank Pallone, in Red Bank today
This suit bears Reed Gusciora's name as plaintiff, along with Mercer County voter Stephanie Harris, who tried to vote in 2004 on a Sequoia Advantage machine but received no indication that her vote was recorded, and the Coalition for Peace Action & NJ Peace Action. Full opinion is here. Thank you, Assemblyman. - - Promoted by Rosi
I know a lot of individuals were disappointed in yesterday's court decision regarding the electronic voting machines. I share in that disappointment. Since 2004, I have been fighting to get a voter-verified paper trail system in New Jersey. Over 30 states have some type of paper trail when voters cast their ballots. Jersey needs to get on board with this.
Yesterday's decision stopped short of what I would have liked to have seen happen. The court did not say electronic voting machines needed to be phased out in favor of optical scan machines. The court did not mandate electronic machines be retro-fitted with paper recording devices, which would have forced the implementation of the law I sponsored in 2005.
Despite that outcome, there is some good news. The court did agree that there were serious risks associated with these electronic machines and corrective steps were needed. The court also agreed the State needed to do more to ensure the integrity of elections and set specific requirements for this.
The State now has 120 days to re-evaluate our 11,000 voting machines with a new panel of experts to see if the machines are accurate and reliable. There will also be new security procedures to secure equipment and mandated background checks for device vendors.
While these are all common sense approaches to protecting elections, I still contend they do not go far enough. The court was correct in pointing out deficiencies, but then only gave minimal guidance on how to fix it. It's as if a water main broke and the water company came out with a 12 pack of Brawny paper towels to clean up the mess.
My one hope is that this new panel of experts, who have actual knowledge of computers and computer security, will see the flaws in our current system and make the recommendation the court did not; to mandate new machines with paper trails. Otherwise, I'll be ready to continue the fight to make sure everyone's vote is counted and counted right.
Finally, a special thanks to the Coalition for Peace Action and the Rutgers Law Clinic for all their hard work - we wouldn't have come this far without you.
A ruling yesterday was issued in a lawsuit challenging computerized voting machines that do not produce a paper record:
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg held that New Jersey's 11,000 voting machines have to be re-evaluated by a qualified panel of experts within 120 days to determine whether they comply with NJ law requiring that they be accurate and reliable. Unlike the panel that currently evaluates voting machines, the new panel must have requisite knowledge of computers and computer security.
Does anyone find it disturbing that the current panel which evaluates our voting machines doesn't need to have knowledge of computers and computer security already and we need the court to direct that?
Judge Feinberg also ordered that all voting machines and vote tally transmitting systems be disconnected from the Internet immediately. Judge Feinberg also required that criminal background checks be performed on personnel who work with voting machines and all third-party vendors who examine or transport the machines. Currently, no such checks are in place. Judge Feinberg further required that a protocol be put in place for inspecting the voting machines to ensure that they have not been tampered with. Judge Feinberg found that the State of New Jersey should no longer leave voting machines unattended in polling places, to prevent tampering. Currently they are left unattended at polling places for up to two weeks before and up to two weeks after each election.
But what the Judge did not require is that the state actually follow the 2005 statute that said all NJ voting machines needed to have a voter verified paper ballot. Here's what Congressman Holt said about the Court decision
"If, as the court acknowledges, security vulnerabilities exist, then the court and the citizenry should want the possibility of audits capable of detecting and mistakes or misbehavior," Holt said. "The fundamental purpose of the lawsuit has been to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the vote tallies by requiring the use of paper ballots as the basis of those tallies. Until New Jersey implements a paper ballot voting system, we will have faith-based voting."
Holt's release also noted that there won't be the ability to have an independent audit of the results from the re-evaluation. Assemblyman Gusciora, who was one of the plaintiffs in the case had this reaction to the ruling:
"It defies common sense that this process takes place," said Gusciora. "The state should take note that this is an electronic age, and should retrofit Sequioa voting machines with a paper trail. At least in this decision there is a recognition that there could be security breaches."
Until some of these elected officials start losing their seats in close, contested elections where they don't have the ability to get an accurate recount, we're going to continue seeing half measures that don't truly ensure every vote is counted. You can view the full ruling from the court here.
The Divison of Elections certified the official voter turnout numbers the other day and we set a record:
Turnout was 46.9% - the lowest on record for a gubernatorial election, down from 48.5% in 2005 and 49.3% in 2001, the only other times less than half of registered voters turned out at the polls.
Looked at another way, though, the turnout of 2,451,704 voters was the most for a governor's race since 1997 and marked a 105,000 voter increase over the election four years ago.
The percentage turnout is affected by the presidential election registration surge typically seen every four years, which was particularly large in 2008. There were 390,000 more registered voters in 2009 than four years - and it's likely that a goodly number were interested in the race for the White House but less jazzed about the run for Drumthwacket.
Along with Assemblymembers Riley and Chivukula, Assemblywoman Joan Quigley is pushing legislation that would allow for online voter registration:
The measure (A-4189) would create an online voter registration form, hosted on a secure site within the Department of State's Web site, that would allow residents to register to vote, change their voting address after a move or change their name in the voter file, all from a computer. Before registering or making a change, an individual's identity would be confirmed utilizing the digital signature found on the state's new digital driver's licenses.
Here is the video press release on the bill the Assembly Majority office put out:
Quigley makes the argument that of all the things we can do online from the comfort of home, we can't register to vote because NJ is "stubbornly rooted in the past." She says making it easier to register may be what we need to get more people to get out and vote. I personally think you need to give people something to vote for once you get them to register too, but that's a separate issue.The legislation has not been assigned to a committee as of yet and there is also no Senate counterpart yet from what I see. What do you think of the idea of utilizing online voter registration?
The deadline for registering to vote is fast approaching this Tuesday. This is pretty cool, the Corzine campaign put out a picture of a 75 year young Cape May resident registering to vote for the first time:
Good for them. There's no time like the present to start participating in the process of choosing your leaders. People that aren't sure if they are registered can check at NJvotefromhome.com and if they are, it lets them apply to vote by mail. If you're already registered, will you be voting by mail or do you still prefer to go vote on election day?
The NJ Democratic State Committee the other day launched the website NJvotefromhome.com:
"This election is critical to the future of New Jersey's working families and our state -- we must do all that we can to ensure every voter has the ability to cast their ballot to re-elect Governor Corzine and Democrats across the state," said Cryan. "Voting from the comfort of their own home will take the difficulty out of making it to a poll and casting a ballot for many New Jerseyans. This new Web site is simply about being in tune to the needs of New Jersey voters."
"In today's world we all lead busy lives but no one should be prohibited from making their voice heard - voting is a right. Democrats recognize the needs of New Jersey voters and this Web site will help to meet these needs by making it easier than ever for residents to cast their ballot. Every vote counts and expanding access to voting for all New Jerseyans will be integral to re-electing Governor Corzine and electing Democrats at all levels across the state."
Here is a video they put together about how voting in New Jersey is easier than it has ever been with the use of Vote by Mail ballots:Take the poll below the fold and lets us know if you vote by mail or if you prefer to cast your ballot at the polls on election day still?
We've all consumed so much propaganda from politicians who want to redirect our attention by demonizing the very people who can ask some of the toughest questions they don't wan't to answer- the press. This is a refreshing take on what Christie's avoidance means to one mindful voter. - - - Promoted by Rosi Efthim
It's become an almost daily occurrence: Chris Christie won't answer questions from the media while on the campaign trail.
He's not the first. Incumbents refuse to participate in debates all the time. (See: Frank Lautenberg in the '08 primary; Scott Garrett every two years.) And these few examples unfortunately won't be the last.
Politically, I understand Christie's tactic, especially during the primary when a candidate must campaign to the "base." The candidate wants to try to avoid saying anything he or she will regret in the general election, where the center is crucial to victory. To prevent an "I voted for it before I voted against it" incident that will come back to haunt you later on, just shut up and stick to the stump speech. Makes sense.
Pragmatically, it's beyond stupid. And not just because a candidate who ignores the "evil media" will be hounded ad nauseum.
I refuse to vote for any candidate -- Democrat or Republican, liberal or centrist -- who refuses to answer reporters' questions. And so should you and every other voter who cares about his or her community, state and country. Here's why.
The Governor's office put this out in a release this afternoon:
Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed the following bill into law:
A-3648/S-2547 (Quigley, Schaer/Sweeney, O'Toole) - Delays requirement that voting machines produce individual permanent paper record for each vote cast due to the State's critical economic situation and lack of appropriate technology
After three months of investigation, California's secretary of state has released a report examining why a voting system made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly known as Diebold) lost about 200 ballots in Humboldt County during November's presidential election.
But the most startling information in the state's 13-page report (.pdf) is not why the system lost votes, which Wired.com previously covered in detail, but that some versions of Diebold's vote tabulation system, known as the Global Election Management System (Gems), include a button that allows someone to delete audit logs from the system.
Auditing logs are required under the federal voting-system guidelines, which are used to test and qualify voting systems for use in elections. The logs record changes and other events that occur on voting systems to ensure the integrity of elections and help determine what occurred in a system when something goes wrong.
So no paper trail, delete the logs, did the vote ever really occur? They better hope it doesn't take one of their elections to be the test case.
"We simply don't have the money," said Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, D-Hudson. "We just can't do it right now. I don't think most people in New Jersey would see this as a priority.
"I know there will be a number of angry people there who feel that we are shortchanging the state's voters, although most of the people I talk with feel that it works. There haven't been major problems. The potential is there, but there haven't been major problems," Quigley said.
Just because she thinks the people of New Jersey don't have this as a priority, doesn't mean it shouldn't be one. The whole point of a paper trail is to ensure there are no major problems. How would you even know if you had any up until now, there's no paper trail to check. Quigley even acknowledges the potential for problems and questions about security have been raised:
A computer expert from Princeton University has found New Jersey's voting machines can be easily hacked, while a professor from Carnegie Mellon University scoffed at the findings, according to two divergent reports released yesterday by the Superior Court judge presiding over the case challenging the machines' reliability.
The lack of past problems does not mean we will have the same luck in the future. We can continue to hope, but I'm guessing that if some of our officials were in a close, questionable election with problems, it would become a little bit more of a priority. Unfortunately, it'll be too late once there is a problem.
With a three vote lead over Republican Jerry Stevenson, Democrat Dan Dunham, who petitioned to reopen the recount, has won the three-year Borough Council seat. Mr. Stevenson had been the certified winner by one vote back on Nov. 25 when the first recount took place after the Tuesday, Nov. 4, election.
Almost seven weeks after the General Election, on Christmas Eve, Judge Theodore Bozonelis directed that the prior certification of the elections results be invalidated and that the results be re-certified, with Mr. Dunham declared the winner with a three vote lead. The recount took place on Monday, Dec. 22, at the Board of Elections in Morristown. Mr. Dunham's total number of votes rose four to 3,370 while Mr. Stevenson's remained at 3,367, the same number since the Nov. 25 recount.
And that's why it's so important to make sure you file for a recount. We touched on that when the Democrats missed a deadline to file for a recount in Closter after a 3 vote loss. In Madison, they actually got this one on the recount of the recount:
Four previously uncounted ballots were opened and counted on Dec.22. Out of the four ballots, three votes were cast for Mr. Dunham and no votes were cast for Jerry Stevenson. Another unopened ballot was also discovered and counted, and that one also was for Mr. Dunham.
Ms. Tiritilli noted "pure clerical errors remedied the election. The correction of clerical errors was the sole factor for change in the election results. An election contest was never even reached," she said, adding that it was paramount that the votes that were properly cast be counted.
Mr. Dunham filed a petition on Friday, Dec. 5, to reopen the recount after he learned that he was only one vote behind Mr. Stevenson. Mr. Stevenson had 3,367 votes while Mr. Dunham had 3,366 votes. Both parties' attorneys met with Judge Bozonelis on Friday, Dec. 12. On Friday, Dec. 19, the judge granted the request to re-open the recount action. On Monday, Dec. 22, the recount took place.
That's a pretty significant clerical error. It actually will change the makeup of council creating a 3-3 split when Dunham gets sworn in on January 1.
We are poised to miss the deadline to have a Voter Verified Paper trail, and last week the Senate failed to pass the extension legislators were looking for. One of the questions has been whether machines would automatically be retrofitted as a result of inaction. Nia Gill summed up moving forward with current retrofitting plans:
"New Jersey, in New Jersey style, is one of the few states that has not decertified Sequoia machines," she said. "One of the few states in the nation. We don't only not decertify it, we're going to put an attachment on it that everybody knows doesn't work."
According to the article, the extension legislation that went down last week marked the first time a bill formally lost in Trenton in nearly five years. I had no idea it had been that long and that should say something.
According to figures compiled by the Secretary of State's Office, more than 3.65 million people cast ballots in the Garden State.
That broke a record set in 2004 when 3.63 million voted in the race between John Kerry and George W. Bush.
From the Division of Elections, McCain's highest vote total from a county was Bergen with 174,526 votes. Obama's best county was Essex with 215,373 votes, though he also pulled another 208,410 from Bergen. Despite the turnout numbers, we didn't set all the voting records:
But Tuesday's results were far short of a record in terms of percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots. About 67 percent of registered New Jersey voters cast ballots, according to preliminary calculations; when provisional and other ballots are counted, the figure could reach 70 percent.
The record was 91 percent, set in 1960, according to the Secretary of State's Office. On several other occasions, turnout percentage was in the mid- to high 80s.
I can't even imagine 91% voter participation. Still, those are some pretty impressive turnout numbers. We'll have to look for the demographic breakdowns to learn more about the make up of the voters.
