Oops! NJ county finds 1,600 uncounted ballots 2 months later

NEWTON — Officials have counted more than 1,600 ballots from New Jersey's July primary that were found last week in a “mislabeled” bin.

The 1,666 ballots from Sussex County were placed in a “secure area” at the county election office and were not discovered until Thursday, the New Jersey Herald reported.

After notifying the state of the error, the remaining votes were counted Saturday, said Board of Elections Administrator Marge McCabe. She said the newly tallied votes “did not change the outcome” of any races.

“The Board of Elections is confident that all ballots received have been processed and the security of all the ballots has remained in place,” McCabe said.

A majority of county residents voted by mail during the coronavirus pandemic and the county election board temporarily relocated to Sussex County Community College to count the votes while social distancing.

It was not clear how the ballots were placed in the mislabeled bin.

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