A judge has granted the Board of Elections more time to handle the counting of an influx of mail-in ballots in the Paterson municipal elections, delaying the results of the six City Council races until next Tuesday.
New Jersey Superior Court judge Joseph Portelli issued the order extending the counting deadline from May 12 to May 19 on Tuesday.
“Despite their best efforts, they are unable to complete the count today,” Portelli’s order states citing “space constraint” due to social distancing. His order states the Board of Elections received 17,688 ballots, 11,179 of which were received after May 8.
Portelli’s order allows the Board of Elections to stop counting at 8:30 p.m. today and resume counting at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. Counting will continue until all the mail-in ballots received prior to May 14 at 12 a.m. are reviewed and counted by May 19 at 8 p.m.
The judge’s order notes this is New Jersey’s first solely vote-by-mail election.
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Updated May 13 at 12:25 p.m. The judge’s previous order had said ballots received prior to May 15 when in fact it is May 14. A new order was issued. Story was revised to reflect the change.