Camden County readies early voting, tightens absentee handling and flags poll‑pad data charges ahead of March special election

The Camden County Board of Election Registration reported that early voting for the county’s March special election will begin Monday at the Kingsland annex and outlined new procedures for handling absentee ballots, higher-than-expected cellular data charges for poll pads and staffing plans for advance voting.

Board members were told early voting staffing is in place at three sites for three weeks and that the county trained about 60 poll workers, including seven high school students through a student participation program. "Just a reminder, early voting starts Monday at the annex," the election supervisor said during the meeting.

Why it matters: the procedures and technical arrangements affect whether absentee ballots are accepted and counted, how quickly vote checks propagate across precincts, and how the office manages unexpected costs in an election with typically low turnout.

Election office staff described a new practice to reduce rejected absentee envelopes: when a voter or a deliverer drops off an absentee outer envelope at the annex, a poll manager will, with the voter’s consent and in a private area of the annex, open the outer perforation only to confirm that required information (signature, birth date, and identifying information) is present before the envelope is sent to Woodbine for processing. The office emphasized that staff are not opening ballots and that the full validation and curing process remains an office function. "This is just empowering our poll managers to do the same," a staff member said, describing the step as a privacy-protected, pre‑screening measure to permit faster curing if information is missing.

Staffers said the change is intended to avoid situations in which a ballot dropped into a public drop box must later be cured but lacks contact information, making timely contact difficult. The board discussed state code references during training; the election supervisor noted SCB rule and statutory citations that govern absentee processing and recommended making poll managers formal absentee clerks so they can legally perform the pre‑screening step.

The board also addressed poll‑pad connectivity and an unanticipated expense: the vendor (referred to in the meeting as "No Inc.") is charging for cellular data that enables poll pads to mark a voter as having checked in so they cannot vote at another precinct. "The poll pad is not connected in any way to the decision making process when voting," a staff member said, adding the pad only transmits check‑in status to the county voter file to prevent double voting. Officials said they had not budgeted for the vendor’s lumped cellular billing and that the invoice raised contracted‑services costs this month.

Elections staff presented registration counts as of Jan. 20: 38,912 active voters and 6,619 inactive voters, for a total of 45,531; staff said total active rolls rose by 72 compared with Jan. 31 and inactive rolls fell by 25. The same presentation identified several busy precincts by turnout; West Kingsland was cited with 5,118 registered voters and East Kingsland was cited as having a larger number.

Officials reminded the board of key upcoming dates: advanced voting and the first day to issue absentee ballots for the March 18 special election begins Monday, Feb. 24; early processing of absentee ballots was scheduled for March 12–13 with additional processing on March 15, 17 and 18 as needed. Election day is Tuesday, March 18, with polls open 7 a.m.–7 p.m.; early tabulation was scheduled for 5 p.m. the same day at election headquarters.

The board said the office is running sample ballots and election advertising in the Coastal Shopper and the Tribune and on the county website to increase turnout.

Ending: Staff said they will continue training and monitor the state election board docket concerning a prior precinct issue, and urged members to let voters know the schedule and sample ballot information ahead of March 18.