County Clerk Tells Freeholders 9,000 County Residents Got Voter Registration Letter

COURT HOUSE — County Clerk Rita Fulginiti updated the Board of Chosen Freeholders at their Sept. 9 meeting that some 9,000 Cape May County residents had received letters over the past weekend telling them they were not registered to vote. Many of those residents had been voting for 30 years or more, Fulginiti said.
Her office’s first indication that the state had mailed the letters was when it was notified by state Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells that over $4,000 had been deposited in the account used for election mailing, she said.
“We are getting phone calls, the Clerk and Board of Elections. We have been inundated by people who have been registered for many years,” said Fulginiti. “They have voted in elections all those years, and they letter said they are not registered.”
“I would like to inform the registered voters that we are happy to take their calls. We are happy to verify their information. If they are not registered, we will be happy to assist them getting registered,” she added.
“This is a big presidential year and there is a lot of itnerest in this election. The letter caused problems statewide, because about 300,000 were sent in five South Jersey counties and in Essex and Bergen,” she added.
They (officials) crossed the statewide voter system with Motor Vehicle Commission data, Fulginiti said.
“When there was s discrepancy, such as a middle initial missing, a letter came out informing the citizen they were not registered. In many cases, that was not true,” she said.
“We are doing our best to handle the telephone calls to let citizens know whether or not they are registered. WE are quite busy right now,” she concluded.
Earlier on Sept. 9, Fulginiti’s office and the county Board of Elections issued the following statement in regard to the letters:
This week a letter intended to aid citizens in registering to vote was widely received by many citizens already registered to in Cape May County. The letter was sent by the State of New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections under the signature of the Secretary of State. The letter begins with the statement “A review of our records indicates that you are currently not registered to vote…”
Since Sept. 8 the County Clerk’s Office and the Board of Elections have received numerous phone calls from registered voters concerned by this letter.
“This letter was generated to assist recent patrons of the Motor Vehicle Commission who may have not been offered the opportunity to register to vote,” explained Michael Kennedy, registrar of the Board of Elections.
“There are some minor data elements between the MVC records and the statewide voter registration system which have caused some of these letters to go out in error,” Kennedy added. “If you recently received a sample ballot in the mail for a primary or school election this year and you have voted recently you can be assured that you are registered to vote,” said Rita Marie Fulginiti, County Clerk.
If you have received this letter and you are a registered voter we direct you to contact the Board of Elections at 465-1050. Your voter registration status will be verified.
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 General Presidential Election is Oct. 14, 2008. If you have any questions please contact the Board of Elections before that date.