Residents press board on UOCAVA, poll-challenger rules and uneven election district sizes; board agrees to study changes for 2026

Several residents used the public comment period at the Middlesex County Board of Elections meeting to raise technical and procedural concerns about election administration, and a resident urged the board to address large disparities in election-district sizes.

Dennis Wu, an East Brunswick resident, asked whether the county validates UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) applications and how the county verifies signatures and the identity of voters who return ballots by email or fax. County staff responded that UOCAVA ballots are treated like other absentee ballots, that signatures are manually checked and that staff will follow up individually on detailed questions raised by the speaker. "The UOCAVA, it's checked just like a civilian. Thank you. We check signatures, and that's manually done," the staff member said.

Bill Lawrence asked about a recent presidential executive order on elections and whether local practice would change. Commissioners said the president cannot directly change state election law and that any changes would come through the New Jersey Secretary of State; they also said litigation over the order is pending and there were no immediate changes to county procedures.

Several speakers, including an experienced poll challenger, described difficulties observing during early voting when polling sites were crowded and staff requested challengers remain in assigned seats. Board staff advised challengers to flag the on-site supervisor when issues arise rather than move among poll workers and voting machines; staff said that approach avoids interfering with voters while still allowing challengers to raise concerns to supervisors.

Nick Leonard, a town clerk, asked whether municipal clerks check machine-result tapes against transmitted USB results. County staff said the county clerk's office re-verifies results and compares the returned USB sticks and machine tapes the day after the election as part of the post-election reconciliation. "The county clerk then will check the results again with the tape," staff said.

A lengthy presentation from Charlie Cradabell of New Brunswick focused on large disparities in election-district sizes across municipalities. Cradabell presented spot counts showing some districts with as few as about 289 registered voters and others with more than 3,100. He cited NJSA 19:4-14 and urged the board to use its statutory authority to revise districts to make them more equal.

Commissioners said statute provides authority to revise district sizes, but the board cannot implement changes in time for the coming primary because notification and timing requirements apply. The board asked staff to prepare a report on district sizes and possible adjustments so action can be considered for the next election cycle (the board and staff repeatedly stated such changes cannot be put in place in time for the immediate primary). One commissioner described a plan to place the item on a post-primary agenda for progress updates.