Of Course: Uncounted Primary Ballots Were Just Miraculously Found

Beth Baumann | September 15, 2020 6:50 PM

Election officials in Sussex County, New Jersey discovered more than 1,600 uncounted ballots from the July 7th primary election.

According to Board of Elections Administrator Marge McCabe, the ballots were discovered in a "mislabeled" box in a "secure area," the New Jersey Harold reported. The ballots were reportedly counted and reported to the New Jersey Attorney General's office.

McCabe said the new ballots didn't change any of the election results in any of the races.

“The Board of Elections is confident that all ballots received have been processed and the security of all the ballots has remained in place,” McCabe said in a statement.

From the Herald:

The closest race came in the Republican primary in Hampton, where newcomer Ed Ramm Jr. came up 21 votes short of topping longtime Township Committee incumbent David Hansen, according to the July results.
Updated totals on the Board of Elections website showed Ramm receiving 460 votes, while Hansen — who has served on the committee since 1998 — received 480 votes. Mayor Phil Yetter, also a longtime member of the committee, secured 605 votes in the primary.

Part of the mixup, according to the Harold, was because of a new polling location at Sussex County Community College. The larger area allowed for election officials to have more space that complied with social distancing requirements than their office did.

Because of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, election officials received 28,062 mail-in ballots. There were another 2,126 provisional ballots. One of the main reasons the county saw such a large increase in mail-in ballots is because New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) ordered the state to hold a mail-in election. The order meant every registered voter would be sent a ballot without having to request one, Fox News reported.