Burlington County voters will cast ballots safely and securely with a new fleet of voting machines that will be deployed during the upcoming New Jersey Primary Election on June 4.
The Burlington County Commissioners, Burlington County Superintendent of Elections and Burlington County Board of Elections announced the acquisition of the new fleet, describing the improved technology as simple to use, secure and more reliable than the county’s old fleet of switch-based machines used by voters for the previous 25 years.
The new machines – consisting of electronic ballot marking devices and tabulators -- are the same as ones acquired by Burlington County in 2021 for early voting. The upcoming June 4 primary will be the first time the new machines will be used at all polling locations on Election Day.
“Now is the right time for Burlington County to make the change and expand the use of new voting machines to all polling locations,” said Burlington County Superintendent of Elections Dawn Marie Addiego. “The new machines have been extensively vetted and are certified by both the federal government and the State of New Jersey, plus thousands of Burlington County voters have already used them during the early voting periods the last three years. The equipment is highly secure, easy to use, and they produce a voter verifiable paper record of every ballot, so there’s an additional level of security that was absent from our older fleet.”
The Superintendent of Elections Office is the custodian of the machines. A total of 513 ballot markers and 239 machine tabulators were acquired by the County and are ready to be deployed to all polling locations on Election Day. Those machines are in addition to the devices the County purchased previously and deployed for early voting.
The County’s purchase was approved by the Burlington County Commissioners at the request of the Superintendent of Elections and was supported by the bipartisan Burlington County Board of Elections.
“2024 is expected to be a high-turnout election year, so we are grateful to have new and reliable equipment in place with the added security of a voter-verifiable paper trail,” said Burlington County Board of Elections Chairman Joseph Dugan. “The technology may be different, but what’s most important is voters will be casting their ballots safely, securely and with the knowledge their choices will be properly counted.”
New devices use different voting procedures
The ballot marking devices use a large digital touchscreen that displays each ballot. The text can be enlarged and voters can toggle between all available languages. The machines have battery backup in the event of power loss, and they are accessible to residents with disabilities.
Voting is done with the machine’s touch screen and there are multiple opportunities to review and change selections on screen before printing a paper ballot. After printing the ballot, voters can again check to verify their selections before casting their ballot by inserting it into a machine tabulator that scans and tabulates their selections.
To assist voters, the Burlington County Superintendent of Elections Office plans to conduct extensive outreach about the new machines to let voters familiarize themselves with the equipment before Election Day.
Poll workers are being trained on the use of the new machines so they can assist voters on Election Day.
“Voting with the new machines will be different for voters who haven’t cast ballots during the early voting periods, but it’s still a simple process that voters should find easy to learn,” said Addiego.
Other voting options
Voters continue to have the option of voting early with a machine at any of seven early voting sites in Burlington County during the designated early voting period before the primary. Early voting will begin on Wednesday, May 29 and end on June 2.
Voters may also request a vote-by-mail ballot that may be submitted via the mail, secure drop box or by hand delivering it to the Burlington County Election Board.
Any registered voter can request a vote-by-mail application online at the Burlington County Clerk’s Office at https://www.co.burlington.nj.us/996/Vote-by-Mail-Information . Undeclared voters will need to declare for either the Republican or Democrat parties to receive a ballot.
“Voting is a fundamental right and Burlington County voters have several different ways to exercise that right,” said Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Dan O’Connell, the liaison to the County’s elections offices. “It doesn’t matter which method voters choose to cast their ballot – by mail, drop box or with a machine – all three methods are secure and voters can be confident their ballots will be counted.”