Lawrence Township voters won’t have to wait until Nov. 7 to cast their ballots in the general election, under state law that permitted early voting to begin Oct. 28, according to Mercer County officials.
Early voting runs through Nov. 5, said Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello.
Voters can cast their ballots Monday through Saturday between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., and on Sunday between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., at any of seven early voting sites in Mercer County.
There is also the option to cast a ballot in person on Nov. 7, which is Election Day, Covello said.
In Lawrence Township, voters will choose from among four candidates to fill three open seats on the Lawrence Township Public Schools Board of Education.
There is no contest for the Lawrence Township Council, which drew three candidates – all Democrats – for three open seats.
At the Mercer County and state level, voters will choose from among Democrat and Republican candidates for Mercer County Executive, the Mercer County Board of County Commissioners and the Mercer County sheriff, as well as a state senator and two state assembly members.
Voters who choose to vote in person – either by voting early or on Election Day – will cast their ballots on new voting machines, Covello said. The new machines have a verifiable paper trail.
Mercer County purchased the new voting machines from Dominion Voting Systems, which is a state-certified voting machine manufacturer, she said. They were chosen because they are easy to use, have a paper backup and do not read from a bar code.
The new voting machines are part of Mercer County’s plan to resolve and prevent problems in ballot processing and tabulation that plagued the November 2022 general election process. There were widespread voting machine breakdowns.
Mercer County purchased the new voting machines to avoid transporting paper ballots to polling locations, Covello said. The new voting machines allow voters to use a touch screen device to print out ballot selections, which they will scan into the voting machine.
Voters may enlarge the voting screen font by touch, or pull up the ballot in English or Spanish, she said. Voters who prefer to hand-mark their ballots can print a paper ballot and fill it out with a black pen or marker.
The paper ballots will be taken to the Mercer County Board of Elections after the polls close on Election Day as a back-up, Covello said.
Covello said that “no matter where you live in Mercer County, you can vote your specific ballot at any of the designated in-person early voting locations.”
In Lawrence Township, the early voting site is the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library System on the corner of Brunswick Pike and Darrah Lane.
The Hickory Corner branch of the Mercer County Library System at 138 Hickory Corner Road in East Windsor Township; the Colonial Fire Co. firehouse at 801 Kuser Road in Hamilton Township; and the Mercer County Office Park at 1440 Parkside Ave. in Ewing Township are designated as early voting locations.
Also, the Pennington Fire Co. firehouse at 120 Broemel Place in Pennington Borough; the Princeton Shopping Center at 301 North Harrison St., and the Trenton Fire Department at 244 Perry St. in Trenton, round out the designated early voting locations, officials said.