I voted early in NJ. It works, it's here to stay and we must embrace it | Mike Kelly
One day this week, I checked out the scene at America’s grand election conspiracy.
I stopped by a polling place that offered early voting.
A woman greeted me at the door with a smile. “Welcome,” she said.
Inside, a handful of voters huddled over voting machines, pushing buttons and making choices for local municipal races and for the New Jersey state Senate and Assembly. The room was as quiet and peaceful as a church.
More importantly, it wasn’t much of a crime scene. Or, despite the claims by some unrepentant Jan. 6 insurrectionists and our former president, it wasn’t a place where voters seemed to be rigging another election. In fact, it was downright boring in its ordinariness.
Voting early is normal — and it's safe
This is no small matter. As we approach another election here in New Jersey in which all 120 seats of the state Legislature are on the ballot, along with all manner of candidates for municipal school boards and town councils across New Jersey and other states, it’s worth noting that our system of voting has changed with the times — for good reason.
It’s also worth noting that massive fraud is not being committed as our nation embraces new ways to vote. This is not good news for conspiracy buffs. In fact, safe and honest elections seem to be a foundation in America.
We occupy a busy world. Our jobs cause us to travel far and work late. Trekking to a polling place on just one day — a Tuesday in November, no less — during a confined set of hours is so 20th century. Maybe even 19th century.
In this age of cellphones and credit cards, when we can make secure bank transactions, rearrange our investment portfolios and obtain sensitive medical information for ourselves by tapping just a few keys, democracy has been slow to catch on.
America has clung far too long to an outdated system of requiring voters to show up at the polls on Election Day, in many cases checking boxes on paper ballots. Now, thanks to the marriage of modernity with democracy, we can cast votes by mail or show up early when our schedule permits.
This system is not “rigged,” as former President Donald Trump and his minions continue to claim. It’s flexible. And the evidence of fraud is thin.
NorthJersey voters' guide: Our guide to New Jersey's 2023 elections for Legislature, local offices and school boards
A notable New Jersey exception
A notable exception is the 2020 City Council race in Paterson, New Jersey, in which council President Alex Mendez, his wife and two campaign workers have been charged by state authorities in a scheme that included the alleged fraudulent mailing of ballots, while campaign aides allegedly stole ballots from residential mailboxes and discarded several that did not show votes for their candidate. Mendez was also charged with witness tampering to avoid prosecution.
“The defendants are accused of attempting to rig an election in their favor and to deprive the voters of Paterson of having their voices heard,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said Oct. 25 in announcing updated charges.
Of course, Trump cited this case, when the indictment was first announced in 2021. At the time, Trump was reeling from allegations not only that he promoted a false set of narratives about voter fraud when he was tossed from the White House in the 2020 presidential election but that he used those same falsehoods to spark the attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump was grasping for evidence to support his claims.
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But for all the talk by Trump about rigged elections — not to mention the nation’s understandable focus on such a possibility — we’ve learned that voter fraud is extremely rare. The Paterson case, though outrageous, is unusual.
And now Trump is facing the possibility that he may be sent to prison for promoting falsehoods and trying to rig his own plan to overturn the 2020 election.
Voting early is a growing reality
Such background is worth noting as another America approaches another Election Day.
Trump and his supporters claimed that voters could not be trusted with options to vote early — even weeks before Election Day — or just to fill out a ballot and drop it off in a special “Ballot Box” at a local municipal building or mail the ballot.
The truth is that numerous studies, from noteworthy liberal and conservative institutions alike, have concluded that fraud is rare in early voting or mail-in voting.
In one study, the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive think tank, concluded that early voting could increase voter turnout.
Paterson Press: New election fraud charges against Paterson City Council President Alex Mendez and wife
Sadly, the trend toward early voting has not resulted in a dramatic increase in turnout. But it may take several more years for the habit to catch on.
In the 2020 presidential election, almost two-thirds of voters — about 64% — resorted to mailing in their ballots or took part in early in-person voting.
But analysts say this uptick in alternative voting was largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire by people to avoid crowds and public spaces. Now that coronavirus infections have dwindled and ordinary life has resumed, the number of voters resorting to early balloting or mail-in alternatives may change.
In 2016, only 37% of America’s voters mailed in ballots or cast their ballots early. The good news is that the number of voters turning to these options has increased with each election cycle. In 2000, only 16% of voters mailed in ballots or voted early.
Another study, by the conservative Heritage Foundation, raised the concern that early voters might not be as well-informed as those who wait to cast their ballots on Election Day2, when they would be aware of more up-to-date developments in a campaign. The Heritage study also warned that the storing of mailed ballots could result in fraud or some ballots being misplaced or even targets of fraud.
But like the Brennan Center’s hoped-for prediction of increased turnout, the Heritage Foundation’s caution about fraud and storage difficulties has not become a reality. In other words, America is still learning how to conduct elections in a more modern way. But so far, the worries about fraud have been unfounded.
Which brings us back to that polling place that was open for business last week here in New Jersey.
People parked their cars and walked into the polling place. They voted, then left.
Think of it as just another normal day.
American democracy has finally caught up with the times.
It’s about time.
Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, as well as the author of three critically acclaimed nonfiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in the Northeast, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: kellym@northjersey.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ early voting works, we need to embrace it past 2023 election
