The Mercer County clerk's office has reported an Election Day glitch with its Dominion vote scanners to county prosecutor's office.
Reports of a technical issue knocked Mercer's Dominion Voting Systems machines out of commission throughout the county on Tuesday, forcing election officials to resort to dropping paper ballots in an emergency slot in the back of voting machines. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello said that while her office did not receive any particular indication of wrongdoing, she would be working with the prosecutor to investigate whether the problem was based on error or "intentionally done to create chaos and distrust in the election system."
"We are not suspicious of any specific wrongdoing, but we do need to investigate the matter fully," she posted. "At the end of the day, as county clerk, I must certify the election results so I have an interest in the integrity of our system."
Adding to the confusion, Robbinsville Township Mayor Dave Fried said Mercer County election officials told his office that ballots from one of its districts had gone missing.
"The fundamentals of democracy is that every vote would be counted," Fried said in a statement. "Clearly, this has yet to happen in Robbinsville, as approximately 11% of our residents' votes have yet to be safely delivered and counted. We’re working with the county, which is in charge of our elections, but please know we will not rest until we get to the bottom of this unconscionable mishap, and we will not consider the 2022 election over in Robbinsville until every single ballot is counted and done so securely."
Update: As of mid-day Thursday, ballots were missing in at least two Mercer County communities, and county officials had received a court order to open up voting machines in hopes of finding them.
The paper ballots used on Tuesday were still standard ballots, not provisional ballots, Gothamist reported on Election Day, meaning they didn't require any special verification before being counted. The county clerk said on Tuesday that ballots would be scanned on "high capacity scanners by the Mercer County Board of Elections, at their central location, instead of at the polling locations by the voters."
"There is a glitch with the Dominion scanners," the clerk posted on Facebook Tuesday. "Voters can still vote by completing their ballots and placing them in the top of the scanning machine in the slot where the emergency ballots are placed. Everyone can vote manually, so rest assured no one will be disenfranchised."
A spokesperson for the Mercer County prosecutor's office confirmed to NorthJersey.com that Sollami-Covello was in contact and the prosecutor's office is “reviewing her concerns to determine what further action should be taken.”
Dominion Voting Systems became a household name in 2020 after former President Donald Trump and lawyers representing him falsely claimed the machines had been manipulated or tampered with in his loss to President Joe Biden. Attempts to reach Dominion for comment were unsuccessful.
Contributed reporting by Louis C. Hochman.
This story has been updated to include new information from Robbinsville Township Mayor Dave Fried.
