A Superior Court judge on Wednesday approved using a secure ballot drop box to receive cure letters from three Atlantic County voters, but stopped short of ruling that the delivery method could be used in future cases without approval from the Atlantic County Board of Elections and, if necessary, from the court.
Assignment Judge Susan Sheppard was called upon to break a 2-2 deadlock on the bipartisan elections board over whether to count the votes of three voters who submitted forms to correct deficiencies in their mail-in ballots.
The board’s two Democratic commissioners supported accepting the cure letters, while the two Republicans opposed them because of how they were delivered.
The Board of Elections chairman, Creed Pogue, a Democrat, argued for accepting cure letters submitted through drop boxes.
New Jersey law allows voters to return cure forms in person, by fax, or by email, but does not specifically authorize submitting them through ballot drop boxes, even though the boxes themselves are an approved way to return mail-in ballots.
Deputy Attorney General Andrew Hedin told Sheppard that voters had no way to fix the problem if their cure letters were rejected, but he also took no position because his four clients were deadlocked.
“You can’t cure a cure,” Hedin said.
Sheppard acknowledged that a strict reading of the statute appeared to exclude drop boxes as a permissible method for submitting cure forms, but said the law must be balanced against the constitutional right to vote.
“A mail-in ballot, which is the actual ballot, is accepted by the drop box,” she said. “I’m going to find that the cure is also accepted by the drop box.”
The judge emphasized that the drop boxes are secure, monitored 24/7 by surveillance cameras, and accessible only to authorized election officials.
Sheppard also noted that the three voters took affirmative steps to correct their ballots by providing signatures and identifying information after being notified of deficiencies.
“I am not going to disenfranchise these voters,” Sheppard said.
She directed the elections board to accept the three cure forms and review whether they satisfied the legal requirements before counting the ballots.
But when asked whether her ruling would apply to other voters who submitted cure forms through drop boxes, Sheppard declined to establish a blanket policy.
“I’m not going to issue an advisory opinion on anything,” she stated. “I think each factual scenario is a little bit different,” she said.
Pogue hoped the commissioners could agree to accept cure forms through drop boxes without returning to court.
Sheppard made clear that her decision applied only to the three voters, noting that two were older and might not have access to computers at home.