Board approves multiple 2025 polling‑place changes and an early‑voting site move

The Middlesex County Board of Elections voted to accept a package of municipal polling‑place change requests for the 2025 cycle and approved one early‑voting site move during its monthly meeting.

Staff presented a set of polling‑place petitions submitted by municipal clerks. For one municipality identified in the packet as Danelon, staff presented two scenarios; the board approved the municipality's preferred option to remove four districts from Lincoln Middle School and relocate them to the town firehouse (a previously used polling site) and the public library. "The entire upstairs. There's an elevator," said Valerie, a board staff member, describing the firehouse layout during the presentation.

Other accepted changes included Metuchen’s request to permanently remove Metuchen High School as a polling site and redistribute its two districts to other locations; Old Bridge’s request to shift an early‑voting site from the Old Bridge Library to the larger Richard Cooper Civic Center; South River’s move from Saint Mark’s (formerly Saint Mary’s) to a church called Legacy; and several smaller relocations or confirmations where municipal clerks and both party chairs had been notified and raised no objections. Milltown asked to move two districts from Joyce Kilmer School to the municipal building, but inspectors found the municipal building too small to accommodate additional districts; that recommendation was not approved for that location.

Board members discussed practical notification steps for voters. Staff noted municipal clerks will request mailing labels for registered voters and send mail notices. Commissioners also suggested that clerks post updates on municipal websites and social media and that the board continue Election Day signage at vacated polling places. The board directed that signage be produced in three languages for locations that move voters to different sites.

On early voting, staff recommended moving Old Bridge’s early‑voting location to the Richard Cooper Civic Center to address space and parking concerns; the board accepted that change while expressing caution about splitting voting operations across noncontiguous rooms, which staff said would complicate supervision.

The board approved the full report of polling‑place and early‑voting recommendations by motion and roll call. Municipal clerks were identified in the record as the originators of requests; staff confirmed parties were notified and that most inspected sites were suitable.