July 8, 2007
The Star-Ledger
Carly Rothman

If passed, a new bill winding its way through the state Legislature would limit the number of absentee ballots that can be hand-delivered by one messenger -- a measure the bill's supporters say could help curtail election fraud.

But several critics in Union County say the bill misses the biggest flaw of absentee ballot voting: people don't always follow the rules.

"The laws that are in place are fine, if people are willing to follow them," said attorney Allan C. Roth, who last year represented the defendant in a Roselle election challenge based on absentee ballots. "I don't know how that's going to safeguard the process."

The bill, which passed unanimously in the state Assembly last month, would prevent a person from delivering more than 10 absentee ballots in a single election.

There are currently no restrictions on the number of ballots a person can deliver, although the bearer must be authorized by each individual voter.

Assemblyman Jim Whelan, (D-Atlantic), the bill's primary sponsor, said limiting the number of ballots a single person may deliver would help prevent campaign workers from taking advantage of the law.

Whelan pointed to several recent elections in his county in which a handful of campaign workers delivered hundreds of ballots, often without proper authorization from the voters -- a pattern he said exposes voters to being harassed or intimidated by campaign workers while casting their ballots, and raises the question of whether deliverers are tampering with the ballots.

"The fear is fraud," Whelan said. "We've seen elections overturned. We've had court battle after court battle."

But Roth said court challenges mean the system is working.

"If there's fraud in the cases, there are checks and balances. ... The court comes in if there's a challenge and reviews it," he said.

Last year in Roselle, Roth represented 5th Ward Council candidate Rosemarie Bullock in one such challenge.

Following the 2006 Democratic primary race, Bullock's opponent Christine Dansereau alleged that members of Bullock's campaign provided improper assistance to absentee voters, violating several regulations intended to protect the privacy of the vote.

Among the issues raised by Dansereau were allegations that Councilman Jamel C. Holley, working on behalf of Bullock's campaigns, had hand-delivered more than 60 ballots to the county clerk's office without proper authorization.

A Superior Court judge threw out 31 of those votes, handing the election to Dansereau -- a decision Bullock and Roth are appealing.

State prosecutors are investigating allegations of voter fraud in that election, Union officials confirmed last month after corruption investigators with the state Division of Criminal Justice served two subpoenas on the county Board of Elections.

Dansereau is being represented by the NJ Appleseed Public Interest Law Center. Renee Steinhagen, the center's director, agreed with Roth that Whelan's legislation doesn't protect voters from campaign workers intent on breaking the rules -- and noted the campaigns could circumvent the law simply by asking more workers to deliver fewer ballots.

"It wasn't wrong that one person facilitated the voting of so many people -- what was wrong was that one person didn't sign the form in front of the voter," Steinhagen said. "I don't think it's the number (of ballots) in and of itself, it was the fact that the rules weren't followed."