Vote By Mail (VBM) ballots are being mailed this week to all registered Democrats and Republicans, according to Mercer County Clerk, Paula Sollami-Covello. Unaffiliated voters who wish to vote in the Primary Election will be mailed applications by June 12, and they must declare a party in order to be mailed a ballot.
When you receive your VBM ballot, read the instructions, and then fill it out right away using blue or black ink and do one of the following:
- Mail it;
- Hand-deliver it to the Board of Elections in Trenton at 640 South Broad Street ;
- Drop It in one of the County’s Ballot Drop-Boxes (to be installed by the Mercer Board of Elections)
The drop box locations are as follows:
- Princeton Municipal Bldg., Princeton, NJ
- Hamilton Call Center – next to the Hamilton Library, Hamilton, NJ
- Hopewell Township Administration Bldg., Hopewell, NJ
- Trenton- Courthouse Annex, 209 S. Broad Street (in front), Trenton
- NJ East Windsor Police Station (in front), East Windsor
There will be no sample ballots sent this year. Instead of sample ballots, voters will receive a postcard in the mail from the County Clerk with the location of their designated polling location should they choose to go to the polls and vote via provisional ballot.
There will be 55 polling locations across Mercer County (locations have yet to be finalized by the Board of Elections). Once approved, the polling locations across the county will be advertised in print ads and on the Mercer County website on the election pages, and all Municipal Clerks will have the list. If you go to your polling location on July 7, you will vote provisionally (with a paper ballot) as you were already mailed a VBM ballot. There will be voting machines available for people with disabilities.
Here is a video from the County Clerk from last year covering VBM applications and ballots. If you start at 2:23, you will see how to fill out a VBM ballot:
1. Don’t detach anything
2. Use blue or black ink to fill in ovals completely (nocheck marks or exes)
3. Place your ballot in the smaller, certification envelope and sign the certification envelope
4. Place your completed ballot in the outer envelope so that your name shows through the window
5. Drop it at the municipal building in the ballot drop box, mail it, or deliver it to the BOE in Trenton
6. Practice putting your completed ballot together before you seal the envelopes.
The deadlines are as follows:
- Final day to register to vote in time for the Primary Election: June 16
- Deadline to APPLY by Mail for Primary Election Vote By Mail ballot/unaffiliated voters to declare a party- June 30
- Deadline for a walk-in to obtain a vote-by-mail ballot: July 7
- Primary Election Day: July 7, polls close at 8pm
- However, you may walk in to County Clerk’s Office until July 7 to drop off your application and pick up a ballot.
- Deadline to mail/postmark or drop off a VBM ballot- July 7 at 8pm
Submitted by the Mercer County Clerk’s office
