N.J. Extends Email Voting to Friday, Other States Hurry to Fix Polling Problems

Nov. 6, 2012 — -- Election officials in storm-ravaged New Jersey were so overwhelmed with requests from displaced residents to be able to vote by email that they extended the deadline for electronic voting to Friday.

Thousands of voters who were displaced from their homes and polling districts after superstorm Sandy will be able to email their ballots to their county clerks by 8 p.m. Friday to be counted in the 2012 election, according to a new directive issued by the New Jersey Division of Elections this afternoon.

The change came after clerks were inundated with requests by residents, each of which took staffers more than 15 minutes to complete after comparing the request against a list of registered voters and finishing paperwork, according to an Essex County, N.J., staffer.

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Sandy initially knocked out power to more than 800 polling sites throughout the state, although alternative locations were quickly established. Governor Chris Christie announced earlier this week that residents would be able to vote by email if they could not make it to a polling place, becoming the first state to allow electronic voting for the whole population. Some states have previously offered electronic voting to those serving in the military.

According to the New Jersey offices of the American Civil Liberties Union, county clerks were so swamped with requests for email ballots today that the ACLU petitioned for an extension to typical voting hours.

The changes to polling rules in New Jersey are just one example of the ongoing problems and controversies at polling sites around the country, as civil rights groups and campaign-affiliated attorneys all monitor voters' access to polls and other issues that could infleunce the outcome of the election.

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In Pennsylvania, voting integrity groups claimed today that voters are experiencing "mass confusion," over whether they are required to show photo identification in order to vote. Election Protection, a watchdog group, said they'd received more than 200 calls by 1:30 p.m. from voters complaining about I.D. problems at the polls, including a sign taped to one polling place that read "Show photo I.D," even though photo identification is not required to vote.

Lawyers for the Obama campaign and the Republican party had argued over the photo I.D. issue in Pennsylvania for months leading up to election day, as Democrats tried to strike down the photo I.D. requirement and Republicans sought to uphold it. The court struck it down, ruling that any resident could vote without a photo I.D.

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