About 1,200 votes were disqualified because voters’ signatures did not match those on file, according to the Passaic County Board of Elections. In New Jersey, voters can designate someone to submit ballots on their behalf, but no one is allowed to drop off more than three during an election. As a result, an additional 1,000 votes were disqualified because a section on the ballot to list the name of the person sending them in had been left blank. Voting experts say seizing on a relatively small case involving a handful of people to tar efforts to make voting easier has become a tactic to disenfranchise voters. “Every time I’ve ever asked for that, nobody has ever given it to me.”Mr. Murphy has also dismissed criticisms that the Paterson scandal signals larger issues with mail-in voting, arguing that the rejected ballots show that even a quickly rolled-out vote-by-mail election can weed out ineligible votes.

Source: New York Times August 19, 2020 22:30 UTC