Freeholders Told: Messenger Ballots Foster ‘Chicanery’

CREST HAVEN — To the average voter, S-1380, would make it easier to vote by mail.
On the other hand, Egg Harbor Township Committeeman John Risley views the bill as the embodiment of what can be corrupt about politics.
Risley attended the July 22 freeholder meeting to urge the five-member board to go on record in opposition to the bill, and get Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) to make some major modifications to it.
Risley, a former Atlantic County freeholder, spoke during the public portion of the half-hour meeting.
“I ask you to consider joining the Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Mayor’s Association and others in a resolution to oppose Senate Bill 1380,” he said.
The bill is “going to come up for its third and final reading after Labor Day, and action now…is crucial,” he declared.
He offered the board a sample resolution for its consideration.
The 32-page bill, said Risley, is called the “Vote by Mail Bill.”
“It makes voting by mail very, very convenient,” he stated.
While the merits of the bill “can be debated,” Risley said the bill, “speaks to gutting and changing all the current statutes of messenger ballots.”
Those are ballots picked up by an appointed person to collect them from the county clerk take them to a voter then deliver them back to the county clerk.
At present, voters can request such ballots less than seven days prior to an election if they are sick or otherwise confined, and will not be able to cast a ballot in person at the polls.
“Messenger ballots may not be a problem in this county,” said Risley. “But the Callaways in Atlantic County have perfected this to a point where they can do quite a bit of damage in Atlantic City, Pleasantville and Atlantic County,” Risley said.
He referred to former Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway, currently incarcerated, whose political organization used the messenger ballots to taint elections in Atlantic County.
“Basically, the Callaways got their political power by walking up to individuals, have them sign three pieces of paper, and saying ‘I will bring you your ballot,’” he added.
An organization armed with those type ballots, Risley said, could then use its street money to “harvest these ballots” when needed for a school election, or general election.
“They would be able to walk into the county clerk’s office and receive 1,000 or 1,500 ballots, and walk out with those ballots,” he added.
Once in a person’s home, Risley said there would be no way to ensure that a voter was casting an unhampered ballot, or if, perhaps, a $10 bill might be placed on the table with the admonition, “Have lunch on us,” to the voter.
“We know about the chicanery,” Risley said. “There is too much trouble and mischief and abuse of messenger ballots,” he said.
“This gave rise to all the corruption in Atlantic County,” Risley said.
He chaired a bipartisan freeholder commission in 2003 “where we uncovered all this and wrote up a report about the abuse of messenger ballot system.”
Under the bill, Risley warned, “Abuse of the messenger ballot system will get worse and worse.”
The use of such ballots resulted in a Superior Court judge, in 2003, overturning one election and set aside another, Risley said.
“I never heard of an election being overturned and another set aside, so you know corruption was pretty blatant for that to occur,” Risley said.
“It (the bill) looks innocuous on the surface, because they are trying to make it easier for people to vote,” he added.
“It’s not a subject that Cape May County has had to deal with, but it’s a huge problem in Atlantic County. This problem of corruption can spread to other places where people are unscrupulous and have money,” Risley said.
“I know it is not an issue for the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders, but I am kind of an expert on the subject,” Risley said.
Freeholder Vice Director Ralph Sheets Jr., who conducted the meeting in the absence of Director Daniel Beyel, asked if all South Jersey freeholder boards had been made aware of the pending law.
“I’m one man, like Paul Revere. It’s gotten zero attention in the press,” Risley told the board.
“I assure you I agree with you, because I chaired the Board of Elections for years,” said Freeholder Gerald Thornton.
“I know what questions can arise, especially in a presidential year. The integrity of absentee ballots must be guaranteed no matter what,” Thornton said.
He questioned if, perhaps, the bill could be modified to that one person could only pick up five absentee ballots per election?
Risley said that such a modification would be helpful.
The messenger ballot “Is a wonderful system if everyone is on the up and up. But in certain neighborhoods and in economically-depressed areas, there can be a lot of intimidation,” Risley told the board.
When the Assembly bill passed, Risley said it “was approved 80-0. That is unheard of.”
It went to the Senate, and was “tacked on” after a three-hour session. It was tabled, and then died.
“But this is a new bill coming down the pike that basically rewrites the rules and guts the entire bill and what little safeguard there was.
“For whatever reason in the statehouse it is being fast tracked right along,” Risley said.
In a June 16 editorial, The Press of Atlantic City reported that use of messenger ballots, “…has become a routine election tactic, particularly by the political organization associated with former Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway…”
The editorial cited a statement by state Sen. James Whelen who cited “amazing election results with messenger ballots” in a “complicated school board election with nine candidates, two ballot questions and a budget, and one messenger brings in 300 ballots, and they all vote miraculously for the same three of nine people and yes on this question, no on that question.”
The newspaper stated that Whelan had voted for the bill, but planned an amendment that would limit to five the number of ballots that a single messenger could deliver.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com