MAYS LANDING — Atlantic County Clerk Joe Giralo is raising concerns about several aspects of New Jersey's election system, including voter registration through the Motor Vehicle Commission and the state's online vote-by-mail application process.
Giralo, appearing Thursday on Talking with Anne with Anne Baker on WOND, argued that election administration should primarily remain in the hands of officials whose jobs specifically involve conducting elections.
His strongest criticism involved voter registration through the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.
“Motor vehicles does not belong in the election process,” Giralo said. “I will say that over and over.”
Giralo said other county clerks from both political parties share his concerns.
“Elections are best left to the elections officials, whether it be the county clerk, whether it be superintendent of elections or Board of Elections,” Giralo said. “Elections are best left there, period.”
Giralo Describes Encounters With Noncitizens
Giralo said his concerns were reinforced by encounters with people who came into the County Clerk's Office and told him they were registered to vote despite not being U.S. citizens.
Giralo said the individuals wanted to know how to remove themselves from the voter rolls.
“I experienced firsthand when all of this began to break, people came to my office and said, ‘I want to unregister. I want to unregister,'” Giralo said. “What? I'm not a citizen.”
According to Giralo, some of those individuals told him they believed they had been required to select a voter-registration option while completing a transaction involving their driver's license.
Importantly, Giralo said he could not independently verify that claim.
“Now, I don't know this to be true,” Giralo said before recounting what the individuals told him.
Because removing a voter registration isn't handled by the County Clerk's Office, Giralo said he directed the individuals to the Atlantic County superintendent of elections.
Giralo also said the people who approached him told him they had not voted.
“They were like, ‘Uh-uh, and we didn't vote, but we're registered,'” Giralo said.
Rather than criticizing those individuals, Giralo praised them for trying to correct the situation.
“I commend them for showing up to say that,” he said. “They were honest people.”
Giralo said one of the encounters particularly affected him.
“The one guy, he literally had tears in his eyes and said, ‘I don't want to be in trouble. I didn't do this,'” Giralo recalled.
Giralo said he believes most people, regardless of their immigration status, do not intentionally want to violate election laws and jeopardize themselves.
Concerns About Online Vote-by-Mail Applications
Giralo also raised questions about New Jersey's ability to allow voters to apply online for vote-by-mail ballots.
He said applications submitted through the online portal ultimately reach his staff for processing, but he has concerns about how signatures are handled and matched.
“I have some issues with that in the fact of matching signatures,” Giralo said.
He stopped short of alleging that the online system has resulted in improper ballots being cast.
Instead, Giralo characterized it as a potential weakness that he believes deserves attention before problems emerge.
“There's certain things that I see that go on with that new portal system that I believe can or will be an issue down the line,” Giralo said.
Wants Election Officials Consulted Before Changes
Giralo's broader criticism is that county clerks and other officials who actually administer elections aren't always sufficiently consulted before lawmakers make changes to election procedures.
“Our Legislature and governor create bills and do things, and they don't listen to the people that are in the trenches where the rubber meets the road, so to speak,” Giralo said.
He said he isn't necessarily opposed to new election initiatives, but believes changes should be tested and evaluated before being implemented statewide.
“I'm not saying any of it's a bad idea,” Giralo said. “It should be field-tested.”
'Fair and Above Board'
Giralo also addressed statewide concerns about voter registrations involving people whose citizenship status may make them ineligible to vote.
He was careful to distance himself from statewide numbers discussed during the interview, saying those figures did not come from his office.
“Their numbers, that's not under me,” Giralo said. “That's their numbers.”
But he said even relatively small problems need to be taken seriously because some elections can be decided by only a handful of votes.
“There were some elections that took place in this state that came down to one or two votes,” Giralo said.
His concern, he said, isn't about which political party benefits.
“I'm sure that if I won or lost, I want to make sure that it was fair and it was above board,” Giralo said. “That's all I'm saying. It needed to be fair, and it needed to be above board.”
Giralo also expressed openness to a voter identification proposal being discussed in Trenton but said the details would matter.
“I'm waiting to see exactly what that voter ID bill encompasses,” he said, noting that any proposal would first have to make its way through the Legislature.
For Giralo, the common thread among the issues is less about partisan politics than about who should design and administer election procedures.
His position is that the officials who deal directly with voter registration, mail ballots, signature verification and election certification should have a greater voice when New Jersey changes the rules governing how its elections are conducted.
About the Author
Scott Stephens
Scott has been an on-air personality, producer and newscaster for 30+ years. He has been a mainstay in the South Jersey Community and on the air across many different area stations. Scott can currently be heard on Kool 98.3 and News Talk 1400 & 92.3 WOND.
