By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Local officials say they are receiving an unprecedented number of requests for absentee ballots, reflecting a heightened interest in the Nov. 4 presidential election.
Any voter who believes they may be unable to get to their local polling place on Election Day can obtain an application for an absentee ballot online through the Mercer County Web site, or in-person at the Mercer County Clerk’s Office or a Municipal Clerk’s Office, no later than seven days before the election.
”We have been getting a lot, a lot, a lot of requests for absentee ballots,” said Kathy Norcia, the Lawrence Township Municipal Clerk. “We have had more requests than we have ever had. People want to make sure they get to vote, if they can’t get to the polls.”
”We get three or four or five people a day (who come into the office for an absentee ballot application), and we get a lot of phone calls (for applications),” she said. “People are anxious to vote. I have no idea what the numbers are (of absentee ballot requests), because all three of us in the office handle them.”
Once the absentee ballot request form is received, an absentee ballot will be mailed to the applicant. The completed absentee ballot must be received by the Mercer County Board of Elections before the close of the polls on Election Day, which is 8 p.m.
For those who are not registered to vote, the deadline to register for the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 14, according to the Mercer County Clerk’s Office. U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years old — or who will be 18 by Nov. 4 — are eligible to register to vote. A voter must have been a resident of the county 30 days before the election.
Prospective voters may register at the Mercer County Clerk’s Office in Trenton or the Lawrence Township Municipal Clerk’s Office. Both offices are open weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The Lawrence Township Municipal Clerk’s Office will be open until 8 p.m. Oct. 14 for last-minute registrations, said Ms. Norcia. Voter registration forms will be available at Community Day, set for Oct. 5 at Village Park, she said.
Voter registration forms are available at the Division of Motor Vehicles offices and state agencies, such as the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Work First New Jersey, the Commission of the Blind and Visually Impaired and the New Jersey Medical Assistance and Health Services program, according to the Web site www.njelections.org.
Voter registration forms for new voters also are available online and may be printed out, according to Mercer County’s Web site, www.nj.gov/counties/mercer. The form may be mailed to the Mercer County clerk, the superintendent of elections or the Board of Elections offices.
First-time voters may be asked to provide identification at the polling place, such as a driver’s license or the last four digits of a Social Security number, Ms. Norcia said. New voters who cannot provide that information may vote by provisional ballot, but they will have to provide identification by the end of the second day after the election to the Mercer County Board of Elections.
Provisional ballots also are used by voters who have moved from one voting district to another voting district within the county. The provisional ballot, which is essentially a write-in form, is taken to the Mercer County Clerk’s Office to be counted along with other votes cast, Ms. Norcia said.
”The optimum is to get a change of address card (and submit it to the municipal or county clerk),” Ms. Norcia said. “It will ease the frustration and time you’ll spend at the polls. It makes the process a lot simpler to register under your new address. Make sure you re-register when you move.”
Information on the voting process and voter registration is available at www.njelection.org, as well as at www.nj.gov/counties/mercer.

