A message to NJ election officials: Don’t make my party affiliation public

Well, another New Jersey primary is in the books, and turnout was... well... a turnout. Let's face it, primaries in New Jersey never have those huge turnouts that we'd like to see.

Nevertheless, voters in the Garden State do get out to vote, and they did with this primary. I myself voted right after dropping my kids off at school just before 9 a.m.

When I got to my polling place, it was fairly quiet. Again, I kind of figured it would be since this is a primary and not a general election. Although, I did not expect to be voter #2 for my district. That was a bit concerning.

Yes, I know there was early voting, but still. And when my wife went to vote about an hour before the polls closed, it was much of the same thing.

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Aside from that, there is one issue I noticed when I went to vote. The election officials made it completely obvious to everyone what political party I belonged to.

How did we know?

For me, it's not as big of a deal. But there are a lot of people who prefer to keep that private for multiple reasons, and that should be respected.

I don't know if every polling location did it the way mine did. At my polling place, they had fairly large slips of paper they gave you to go into the voting machines.

If you were a registered democrat, you got the blue sheet. And if you were republican, you got the pink sheet. Makes sense for the party affiliation.

The only problem was, they gave those slips to you before sending you over to the voting machines. Meaning, everyone in the polling place knows exactly what party you're affiliated with.

A big deal?

For some people it is. And I wonder if something like that is a deterrent for voters. It's very possible.

As for other issues? There really weren't any. I will note that my ID was never checked, which I fully had out and ready to go. Outside of that, there really weren't any other concerns.

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.