Election board flooded with voter registrations

BY LISA CORYELL - NJ.Com

As the clock ticks down to the Oct. 15 registration deadline for what some are calling the election of the century, Mercer County election officials are scrambling to process the thousands of registration forms and absentee ballot requests streaming into their offices from across the county and around the globe.

Logging extra hours and hiring additional workers, those in charge of voter records say its no easy task keeping up with the record number of citizens eager to participate in one of the most exciting elections in modern history.


"We've been training people to put the information into the computer and scan the signatures," said Bettye Monroe, county superintendent of elections. "The office is open longer. Instead of four days a week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., they're working five days from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. We're opening on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to process the requests."

The number of people wanting to take part in the election -- which features the first black presidential candidate on a major ticket and the first female Republican vice presidential candidate -- is gathering record-breaking momentum.

"We always see an increase in registration in every presidential election but this is beyond that," Monroe said. "I would say it's unprecedented and it's going to get even higher because it's only September. We have three more weeks to go."

Already the number of registered voters in Mercer County has eclipsed that of the 2004 presidential election.

That year 208,067 voters were registered by the October deadline. As of yesterday, 208,388 are on voting rolls, with more signing up daily.

"We're getting request forms by the thousands," she said. "We have baskets and baskets and baskets of them out there. When I say baskets, I mean thousands."

County Clerk Paula Sollami-Covello said her office is receiving a staggering number of requests for absentee ballots.

She chalks up the increase to a keen interest in the race and the fact that voters are becoming increasingly aware of a 2005 law that says New Jersey voters no longer need a reason to vote by absentee ballot for any election.