'Perfect storm': Can Bergen County fix its voting troubles in time for the 2024 election?

New voting machines, untrained poll workers and slow system servers are being blamed for a chaotic Election Day in Bergen County, creating what's being called a "perfect storm."

County officials want to know what went wrong and how these problems will be fixed before next year's presidential election, which is expected to bring out about 70% of voters, 40% more than this year.

Bergen County Executive James Tedesco and Commissioner Chairman Thomas Sullivan sent a letter to Bergen County Clerk John Hogan, Superintendent of Elections Debra Francica and the county Board of Elections, expressing concern about what voters experienced on Nov. 7. The three branches work separately and independently in each election and serve as a system of checks and balances.

New voting machines

This was the first major election in which the new Dominion voting machines, purchased early this year, were used. Tedesco and Sullivan said, "We cannot help but voice our disappointment with their performance."

The Bergen County Board of Commissioners approved a $15 million bond ordinance in April to pay for the 1,200 ballot-marking devices and 650 tabulators, replacing 30-year-old machines.

There were reservations about the three-step process the machines use, which has been called "tedious." The county officials noted there were other machines that offered a "smoother voting experience."

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"However, we trusted in your expertise as election officials and deferred to your judgment," Tedesco and Sullivan wrote in their Nov. 10 letter to the election officials. "Unfortunately, the presence of malfunctioning machines, insufficiently trained poll workers, and the long lines many voters experienced during an off-year state election with relatively low turnout are concerning, especially ahead of the upcoming 2024 presidential election."

The new voting machines were used in five "successful" early voting elections, one May municipal election and the June primary election, Francica said.

"Rolling out a new voting system with new technology to the general public is always a challenge," she said. "We attribute much of that success to the skill of our trained poll workers who guided the voters through the new process. A fully skilled workforce in the polling place results in a smooth election no matter what equipment is being used," Francica said.

Lack of trained poll workers

Following the Nov. 7 election and after it was discovered that 50% of Nov. 7 poll workers had not received any training since the June primaries, Francica said this election was different.

The Board of Elections made training for poll workers optional instead of mandatory, Francica said. Of the 1,716 people who worked the polls on Nov. 7, 854 did not choose to attend training.

"This was the root of many of the issues on Election Day that occurred that could have been prevented," Francica said. "It’s only common sense that with new technology, that every poll worker should have been mandated to attend training class."

Richard Miller, chairman of the Board of Elections, could not be reached for comment regarding the training but previously blamed the voting machines themselves. Miller said that as the day went on, election officials found blank ballots printed, machines blowing out fuses, and toner and printing problems.

"Many of the calls we received on Election Day were from poll workers who had basic questions about the equipment and the poll pads that would have been taught in class," Francica said. "Others had trouble navigating the voter check-in and troubleshooting voter issues, all of which would have been reinforced in training class."

In Wallington, for example, the seven poll workers at the senior center opted out of training and the voting location opened late because they were "disoriented" with the equipment, Francica said.

"It’s easy to blame the equipment, and I understand the administration’s concerns, but if 50% of poll workers have not been retrained in five months since the last election, many of the issues that occurred on Election Day could have been avoided and prevented," she said. "This is still a work in progress, and we'll do everything to promote this equipment before the 2024 election."

Francica said there are plans going into place with campaigns and promotions of the new machines. She said only Hasbrouck Heights asked for a voter machine demonstration before the election at the senior center, and no issues arose there.

The county is also looking at ways to properly equip municipal clerks with all the tools they will need before the election, such as a master poll worker card and more rolls of paper for the machines.

Some municipalities, including Oakland, saw a surge of voters between 4 and 8 p.m., because of a close mayoral race and a ballot question, and needed more paper. River Edge did run out of paper, but more was quickly delivered.

"We didn't anticipate it. It was supposed to be a low turnout," Francica said. "We learned from it and will have more delivered ahead of time that will be properly secured."

More promotional videos, flashcards for poll workers and training will also roll out starting in January.

Prolonged reporting times with results

Tedesco also said the prolonged result reporting times that have occurred in the last three elections are troubling.

In 2021, the delayed reporting of vote-by-mail ballots, after results were previously displayed indicating 100% of precincts reporting, garnered national attention and "fed false election conspiracy allegations," Tedesco said.

On Nov. 7, almost half of the county's municipalities turned in results and equipment to the clerk's office after 10 p.m., and three towns returned the results close to midnight.

Hogan said that during the "haste" of getting the final municipal results in after midnight, a wrong document was uploaded to the system and caused the results page not to upload correctly. At that point county officials reverted to using a PDF file format to share the correct results.

"The timely reporting of results in a clear and transparent manner is foundational to the public’s faith and confidence in the system, so improvements must be made to the reporting process to ensure the sustained integrity of our elections," Tedesco said.

County officials have asked Francica, Hogan and the Board of Elections to put together a plan to ensure that the election system is prepared for 2024.

"We urge you to consider allocating a serious investment of funds from your respective offices towards public awareness campaigns to introduce the new machines to voters, explain the changes in process, and continue to encourage both early voting and vote-by-mail," county officials said.

"We believe it is absolutely imperative that you work collaboratively to rectify these issues and implement measures that will prevent their recurrence in the future. You must ensure the voting experience is reliable, secure, efficient, and accessible to the public, and we believe that an open and transparent dialogue on this matter is essential to maintaining public trust in our electoral process."

Hogan said his staff has met multiple times since the election to see what can be improved.

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Two main issues the clerk's office is working on involve looking at server response times and the potential of securing a larger, state-certified server.

Another issue that added to the delay in getting results was the amount of equipment used in the election. Every municipality must collect all the equipment and results and take them to the county office in Hackensack.

Hogan said officials are examining processes used by Essex and Mercer counties that involve secure technology for remote reporting on a regional or town-by-town basis.

"There were some posting mistakes, but the election is still secure," Hogan said. "A lot of people put in a lot of time to make the election safe, secure and accurate, with months and months and months preparing for the election. This is the first new voting system in 30 years. It's not an excuse, but with anything new, there is an adjustment period."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Can Bergen County fix election problems for 2024 election?