Voter registration up by 15 percent

By Audrey Levine Staff Writer
   HILLSBOROUGH — On Tuesday, one of the most important elections in recent history will end with a new president of the United States and, for Hillsborough residents, two residents filling two three-year seats on the Township Committee.
   Republican incumbent Mayor Anthony Ferrera, Democrats Matt Dawson and Manny Foranoce, and Republican Gloria McCauley are vying for the open seats.
   According to Jerry Midgette, election administrator for Somerset County, 23,909 people in Hillsborough have registered to vote as of Wednesday. This is out of a total population in town of close to 38,600.
   ”It’s definitely an increase over last year,” he said. “We were hearing that about 40 percent of voters turned out for the primaries. I think people are expecting that to double in the election.”
   According to Mr. Midgette, of the total number of voters registered, 13,239 are unaffiliated, 5,155 are registered Republican and 5,502 are registered Democrat.
   Mr. Midgette said that the county is expecting about 70 percent of registered voters to turn out for the actual election.
   In addition, Mr. Midgette said, about 14,000 absentee ballots have been sent out of Somerset County.
   ”We are getting unprecedented registration, (and) we expect high return on the absentee ballots,” he said. “I think this will be higher than anything we have seen before in New Jersey.”
   In anticipating the increase, Mr. Midgette said, the county is taking several precautions to ensure that everyone who wants to is able to vote easily and quickly. First, he said, all election board workers are being required to attend training classes, despite the fact that they are normally only held once every two years.
   In these classes, Mr. Midgette said, workers will go through the responsibilities for opening and closing the voting machines, and making sure everything runs smoothly throughout the day.
   ”We have also had to increase staffing to get registrations in the system because of the high volume,” he said.
   Finally, Mr. Midgette said, the county is making plans to deal with any problems with the machines themselves. He said technicians will be readily available to make any repairs, and there will be backup procedures so that people are not required to wait extra time in line while a machine is fixed.
   ”We have contingencies in place,” he said.
   Voting will be held in 11 locations throughout Hillsborough. District 1 will vote at the Neshanic Reformed Church, on Amwell Road; Districts 2, 13, 14 and 19 at Mary Mother of God Church, on Triangle Road; Districts 3, 10, 21, 23, 26, 28 and 29 at the Municipal Building, on South Branch Road; Districts 4 and 17 at Hillsborough School, on Route 206; Districts 5 and 7 at Sunnymeade School, on Sunnymeade Road; Districts 6, 12 and 16 at Hillsborough Middle School, on Triangle Road; District 8 at Woodfern School, on Woodfern Road; Districts 9 and 11 at Amsterdam School, on Amsterdam Road; Districts 15 and 24 at Auten Road School, on Auten Road; Districts 18 and 22 at Woods Road School, on Woods Road; and Districts 20, 25 and 27 at the Woods Road Firehouse, on Woods Road.
   The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.