By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
Heightened interest in the upcoming presidential election has led to an unprecedented demand for absentee ballots, according to local officials.
Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Cavello said that her office has received over 4,000 requests for the ballots so far for the upcoming election, and she is expecting 12,000 total.
”It’s a record high,” she said.
She attributed the increase to the new “no excuse” absentee ballot law in the state, as well as “general excitement in the election.”
”No incumbents are running,” she said.
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 their county Web site, or in-person at a county or municipal clerk’s office. The deadline for filing the application is Oct. 28 — a week before the election, Ms. Cavello said. 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 county board of elections before the close of the polls on Election Day.
The ballots are currently being printed, and the county clerk office will begin sending them out in the next two weeks, Ms. Cavello said. Gay Huber, West Windsor Township deputy clerk, said that while her office has not been tracking the numbers, there has been an upward trend in ballot application requests.
”There’s definitely been an increase,” she said, adding that both telephone calls and walk-ins are on the rise.
Princeton Borough Clerk Lee Quinty concurred, saying her office had also received a “high volume” of requests.
Political parties are also encouraging voters to use absentee ballots as part of get-out-and-vote programs.
Roy Wesley, Mercer County Republican Committee chairman, said his party is distributing the ballots at their headquarters and at campaign events.
”What you’re trying to do is make sure you get those votes,” he said. “At the bottom of the ticket, every vote literally counts.”
With the “no excuse” law in effect, Mr. Wesley said, the party is focusing on people who can’t get to the polls because, for example, they work in New York or Philadelphia or have small children.
”Whether or not you get a significantly larger number of voters because of it, that remains to be seen,” he said.
For those who are not registered to vote, the deadline to register for the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 14, according to the New Jersey state Web site. 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 county clerk office or at their municipal office. Municipal clerk offices in Princeton Borough,and Montgomery and West Windsor townships will be open until 9 p.m. on Oct. 14 for last-minute registrations, while the Plainsboro Township Municipal Clerk’s office will be open until 7 p.m. on that date. No extension of the normal 5 p.m. closing time has been announced for the municipal clerk’s office in Princeton Township.
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.
Information on the voting process and voter registration is available at www.njelection.org, as well as at www.nj.gov/counties/mercer.

