A Closer Look at Camden County Vote by Mail: Lessons Learned from the 2021 Primary Election

In the June 8 2021 Primary, three members of South Jersey Progressive Democrats — Kate Delany, Susan Druckenbrod and David Stahl — served as election challengers at the Camden County Board of Elections in Blackwood. In doing so, we were enacting our legal right as candidates to monitor election proceedings. Our goal was to learn more about how mail in ballots are processed and counted in our county. Though the Primary Election has come and gone, the takeaways are enduring, as are the systemic problems we noticed.

Blackwood: Where Most of the Election Happens

In Camden County, the bulk of our elections happen via the mail, rather than at the polling place. This was the case even before 2020’s all Vote by Mail (VBM) election. For multiple years, Camden County has had the highest percentage of mail in ballots in the state. In a 2018 article, party boss George Norcross explained that expanding VBM has been the strategy, that he has “been keen on vote by mail for seven or eight years.”

Chasing VBM ballots as well as expanding the VBM voting base has been a core element of the Camden County machine playbook. As Brigid Harrison has noted in political analysis, “The author of that playbook is Steve Ayscue, a political strategist who works for Norcross…Ayscue invites party loyalists to house parties; Freeholders speak, food and drink is served, and then the Democratic loyalists cull through voter lists.”

Likewise the Camden County Dems have worked to register more voters to become vote by mail voters.““We call it the Camden County Road Show. We go anywhere and everywhere,” said Camden County Clerk Joseph Ripa in an article that details the effort to sign up new VBM voters. This includes excursions to nursing homes among other places.

In the June 8th 2021 primary, 62% of Camden County votes cast were via Vote by Mail. As points of comparison, VBM turnout in the June primary elsewhere in South Jersey was 19% in Ocean County, 30% in Burlington County, 28% in Atlantic County, 26% in Salem County and 27% in Cape May County. This new 62% VBM Camden County turnout was up from nearly 50% in the 2019 primary and 35% in the 2018 primary.

Part One: Opening the VBM Ballots

The hour at which VBM ballots are opened varies by election. Prior to Election Day, we inquired in writing when the Board of Elections would begin opening the ballots and learned that they planned to start at 6 AM. We arrived in Blackwood a few minutes prior to that time to watch the ballots be opened and flattened by hired members of the public in the warehouse of the Board of Elections.

The people hired to open and flatten ballots are divided into two groups with designated Republican and Democrat ballot openers and flatteners. Those opening the ballots look for any stray markings that could interfere with the operations of the scanning machine. The openers then flatten out the ballots to be run through the scanning machines which tabulate the voters.

The votes are not actually tabulated downstairs in the warehouse by these hired members of the public. After the opening and flattening, they are taken upstairs to the scanning room where the ballots are processed by Board of Elections employees and others.

We experienced several surprises during the ballot opening part of the day. First, we saw that there was going to be an extensive security presence focused on keeping an eye on us. There were three security guards and three of us, so a guard a piece. These security guards were told to watch us, to tell us where we could stand and to make sure we stayed in those spaces.

A secondary surprise during the first part of the day occurred when we were told we were not allowed to ask any questions about the process. The question we wanted to ask was a very specific one, about operations in the upstairs scanning room and our ability to witness that process too. We hoped to ask one of the Board of Election Commissioners as they walked in and out of the warehouse space used for ballot opening but the security guard was told to relay the message that we were not allowed to speak to anyone.

(View from our designated space behind the chain link fence)

Part Two: Tracking the “Priority Cart”

While we were still downstairs, watching ballots being opened and flattened from our assigned challenger spot behind the chain link fence, we noticed that not only had ballots been sorted by municipality but there was also a marked “priority cart.” On that priority cart were all the towns in which progressive challengers were running against machine backed incumbents: Camden City, Collingswood, Clementon, Lindenwold and Merchantville. The ballots of the towns in which South Jersey Progressive Dems were running against the Camden County machine were fast tracked to be opened and flattened first. This meant they would be put through the scanning machine first, prioritizing them over all other Camden County towns.

We wanted to make sure that we were present to see these ballots counted up in the scanning room but were not able to so say while still in the downstairs warehouse space. Not sure what else to do, we decided to call the Board of Elections as we would have done if we were challengers with a question at a polling place. Susan Druckenbrod surprised the workers at the front desk who asked, “Are you here right now and also calling here?” We were! It was the only way we could make our request known. After we called the Board of Elections while at the Board of Elections, we were told we would be allowed to go upstairs to the scanning room to watch the ballots be processed.

(Camden, Clementon, Collingswood, Merchantville & Lindenwold — all the places where challengers were running against the machine — were labelled “priority towns”).

Part Three: Scanning the Scanning Room

The scanning room was a cramped space and we were told we should not talk while we were up there. We were given seats along the wall. A security guard was sent up with us to sit and watch us the entire time.

The scanning room was busy with people constantly coming in and out. Some of those people we could identify. The scanners were run by two Board of Election employees who introduced themselves. The Democratic and Republican administrators (who also introduced themselves) brought bins of ballots into the room to be scanned. The Board of Election commissioners walked in and out periodically. There were also individuals whose identity and relation to the county were unclear. One of them, Ken, entered information into a computer throughout the scanning and took calls on both of his cell phones.

All the “priority town” ballots were done being scanned by 9 AM. We heard employees complain about the unwieldy size of the Camden ballot, how difficult it was to get through the scanner. This was interesting to us, given that the Camden City ballot placed anti-machine challengers so far afield in Ballot Siberia that the visually baffling ballot attracted media attention.

We also heard an employee tell Commissioner Ambrosino that they would come update him on the results of the “priority towns.” This prompted us to recall the NJ Globe article in which David Wildstein published the election numbers leaked to him in a noontime article that celebrated the machine’s “huge lead” the South Jersey Progressive Democrats.

Shortly after all the “priority town” ballots were scanned, we began to get word from fellow South Jersey Progressive Dems out on the streets of those towns, talking to voters, that construction union members had begun walking around town, disseminating campaign lit for the machine backed candidates.

(A view of the busy upstairs scanning room from our designated spot where we were again watched by security)

Part Four: Merchantville Recount

By the end of election night, only one local team of South Jersey Progressive Democrats had made it across the finish line, Merchantville Progressive Democrats who were elected to Democratic Committee. On election night, three out of the four challenger candidates were victorious but in the coming days we watched the victory begin to slip away. New mail in ballots arrived, we learned, and we watched as the numbers began to shift in favor of the machine.

We had numerous questions: what were the postmark dates on those late arriving ballots? How many late arriving ballots were there? Were late arriving ballots commonplace, especially so many from a town as small as Merchantville? Were the ballots being opened as they arrived? How and when challengers could watch these late arriving ballots be opened and counted?

Not satisfied with the level of transparency provided, the Merchantville Progressive Dems engaged an attorney and petitioned for a recount. The judge sided with them and ordered a recount to be held on June 29, 2021. Once again, South Jersey Progressive Democrats Kate Delany and Susan Druckenbrod headed down to Blackwood to witness the proceedings.

The recount began in the warehouse/archive center of the Board of Elections facility. In addition to Board of Elections employees, the Board of Election commissioners were present along with the County Clerk and members of his staff. Two of the Merchantville Progressive Dems attended. None of the machine backed candidates were there. Executive Director of the Camden County Democratic Committee, Mike Porch, was in attendance.

First, new print outs were generated from each of the polling machines used in Merchantville on Election Day. The numbers on the receipts generated by the voting machines were consistent with the numbers reported on June 8th. Then it was time to go back upstairs, for a hand counting on all the mail in ballots and provisional ballots.

This process was more time consuming and happened in front of a giant Zoom screen, presumably so Bill Tambussi, the attorney of the Camden County Dems and personal attorney for party boss George Norcross, could attend the recount. Also in attendance was Jessica Stewart of RP Consulting LLC, the machine fundraising organization of which Board of Elections Chair Donna Robinson is managing partner. By the end of the recount, the election results were reversed. Three progressive challengers had officially won committee seats. Though a small victory, it was hard fought and took nearly three weeks to secure.

(The recount was held in front of a Zoom screen so Tambussi could also be in attendance).

Part Five: What We Learned From What We Saw

For the South Jersey Progressive Dems in attendance at the Board of Elections on June 8th and during the recount, the experience was eye opening. We left with some important takeaways about issues we’d like to see redressed.

1. There are no clearly stated rights and regulations for challengers who want to watch the proceedings at the Board of Elections. For challengers at regular polling places, the rules are fairly cut and dry. Based on our experience with excessive security, restrictions on speech at pertinent times, and a lack of clarity about post-election night tabulating, some clear and reasonable regulations for VBM site challengers are needed. While this might not be a pressing need for the rest of the state, it is for Camden County because again, most of our election (62%) happens not at a polling place but in Blackwood, at the Board of Elections office.
2. While polling places are highly regimented and manned by members of the public serving as poll workers, operations are very different at the Board of Elections. Poll workers apply and are compensated for their work. Those working in the warehouse on election day are members of the public but as previously stated, the actual tabulating of the votes happens upstairs in the scanning room. There was a lot of bustling traffic in the scanning room with many people moving in and out, some of them not clearly identified as County employees or appointed Commissioners. While there were plenty of phones and computers, there was no camera recording the scanning room operations. Again because the press was given VBM information midday during a previous primary, South Jersey Progressive Dems are sensitive to the need to keep tallies confidential.
3. There needs to be a clear process for challengers to witness the opening of late arriving ballots. Again, if our elections are in the process of massively moving away from the primacy of the polling place and the vote cast in person on Election Day and towards votes cast by mail, then the challenger process should be ramped up as well to safeguard the rights of candidates to witness all proceedings. It was frustrating to be shut out after June 8th even though ballots were still arriving. The outcome of the recount proved that it is essential that we be allowed to challenge during the entirety of the election.
4. We’re Running Against the People Running the Election — And That’s Concerning. Camden County is a dominant party system and as such, the operations of the county and workings of the party are one and the same. Because Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than three to one, the General Elections are really no contest. South Jersey Progressive Democrats are committed to running reformer candidates who want to move the party to the left and away from the pernicious effects of machine politics. However, it’s deeply unnerving to see the connections between our opponents and those overseeing our elections. The current Board of Elections Chair Donna Robinson Taylor is a professional campaign fundraiser who just this year raised over $100,000 for candidates who were on the June 8th ballot. She was an active fundraiser for Norcross’s new PAC, American Democratic Majority, in this past Primary Election. This PAC sent out campaign mailers backing machine candidates over progressives on the very ballots we watched being counted. This seems like the kind of conflict that should require individuals to recuse themselves! The very existence of the “priority cart” speaks to the lack of objectivity in our election processing. That those ballots from those specific towns were all fast tracked to be processed suggests that the first order of business was making sure the progressives lost before proceeding with the rest of a rather ho hum election in uncontested towns

As vote by mail becomes more and more essential in Camden County, watching and analyzing that process has become more essential. South Jersey Progressive Dems are committed to doing that work. We will certainly be present as challengers at future elections.