Election officials will be prepared to implement early in-person voting by the November 2 general election, Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday, although he declined to say that new technologies – including electronic poll books – are in place and working.
“I think the key point will be, ‘will we be ready to go when we need to be?’ and the answer, to the overwhelming best of my knowledge is yes,” he said.
Murphy signed the early voting law in March requiring election officials to operate early voting centers in the nine days preceding a general election.
During those periods, early voting centers must be open from 10 AM to 8 PM, Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, the polls would close at 6 PM.
The new law also appropriated $2 million for the purchase of high-speed printers that could be used to print ballots down to a given district in a particular town on demand.
Election boards needed to purchase electronic poll books and voting machines that can interface with them to stand up the early voting system.