Ballots get rejected?

To ensure the anonymity and security of mail-in ballots, voters must complete their ballots and follow the instructions correctly. Election security means that ballots will be rejected. We have data from the last 12 statewide elections from 2015-2020 and this data allows voters to learn and avoid costly mistakes.

The top reasons for ballot rejection 2020 General Election.

What about the Ballot Cure Act?

We still have too many ballot rejections due to signature mismatch and signature missing, both instances where voters would be allowed to provide an updated signature and get their ballots counted. Many voters declined to return their Cure Forms expressing “Well, it doesn’t matter because the election is already over.” However, these same voters may have future Mail-in ballots rejected because they failed to provide an updated signature to use for signature comparison in future elections.

To see top rejected reasons in your county:

Higher rejection rate, but still a small percentage.

Millions of New Jersey voted by mail for the first time in 2020 – 93.5% of all votes were cast by mail-in ballot. The highest prior to 2020, was 16.7% in 2019 General Election. For voters who were voting using this method for the first time meant that many costly mistakes were made by voters driving the rejection rate much higher than we have experienced historically.

All Statewide Elections 2015-2019

Data from all Primary and General elections, years 2015-2019 shows that the top 8 reasons that ballots were rejected out of the total ballots cast was less than 0.01% and 3.25% of total mail-in ballots. The top rejected reasons were:

  1. Certificate Not Signed (CNS)
  2. Ballots received After Polls closed (BAP)
  3. Certificate Missing (CMS)
  4. Signature Does Not Match (SNM)
  5. Other (O)
  6. Incomplete Bearer Portion (IBP)
  7. Ballot Not Enclosed (BNE)
  8. Primary – Voted both Parties (PVP)
Data from NJ Division of Elections. Total for 2019 General Election = 8459. Total for 2015-2019 all Primary and General Elections = 52,011

What can voters do to prevent their ballot from being rejected?

We, ATNJ Education Fund, worked hard to write (and redraft as needed) the history-breaking Ballot Cure Act, the Ballot Drop Boxes Act, and the “VBM Education Bill.” These bills were signed into law in August 2020 and work to reduce voter disenfranchisement.

  • The Ballot Cure Act: requires the county Board of Elections to notify the voters of their temporary rejection within 24 hours and allows the voters up to 48 hours before the election is certified to provide a fix – or cure – to the mail-in ballot.
  • The Ballot Drop Boxes Act – requires a minimum of 10 secure ballot drop boxes per county allowing voters more accessibility to drop their ballots timely, avoiding the number reason for ballot rejection; codifies the entirety of Executive Order 177 including the mailing of VBM ballots to all active registered voters.
  • The “VBM Education Bill” – requires the Secretary of State to provide voter education on Vote By Mail, increases the number of Messengers and Bearers from 3 to 5 if family and residing in the same household, and removes the requirement of having a postmark on the mail-in ballot if received within 48 hours of polls closed. These will work to reduce rejections due to receiving after polls closed.

1. Certificate of Mail-in Voter

Voters need to fill this out, sign it, and to NOT TEAR OFF the certificate.

Q: What are the security measures here and why does it stay still attached after the voter completes it?

A: The Certificate contains the voter’s information, the voter’s signature that is matched against their signature on file, and information if they received assistance, the lower “Assister’s Portion”. Once the Board of Elections receives this inner envelope and verifies those three things, they then tear if off and separate it from the envelope, keeping the ballot inside a secret. The Certificate must NOT be removed by the voter because the ballot will not count if it is missing.

  • You MUST fill it out complete and SIGN it using your “official” signature, not your grocery store receipt relaxed signature!
  • DO NOT detach it. DO NOT tear it off. It has to stay attached as-is.

2. What about signature mismatch?

With the passing of the Ballot Cure Act that we wrote and got passed and into law, voters will be able to provide a cure in case there is a signature mismatch. However, voters can avoid this by making sure they update their signature if it’s been a long time since they’ve registered to vote. The signature will be compared to the Voter Registration signature that is digitized in the State Voter Registration system. If you’ve changed your name due to marriage, divorce, or go by a different name like a nickname, be sure to update using the Voter Registration Application shown below.

This form is a sample of updating your signature, affiliating yourself to a party, and signing up to vote by mail all on 1 form!

3. What are the other reasons for ballot rejection?

Below are the other reasons possbile for a voter’s ballot to be rejected listed alphabetically by code followed by the description. The notes appearing after the dash is further clarification that we provided.

One new item that ranked higher on the list in 2020 was “Voter Registration ID Missing”. It’s a voter who hasn’t confirmed their address with the Superintendent of Elections. They are sent a form to complete and sign in the same envelope as their mail-in ballot.  If they don’t complete and return that form with their voted ballot, their address is still unconfirmed and the Board of Elections cannot count their ballot. 

  • BEL Bearer Exceeded Limit – No person can serve as a bearer for more than 3 qualified voters per election.
  • BEU Both Envelopes Unsealed – Remember to seal both or it is considered tampered with
  • BNE Ballot Not Enclosed
  • BNS Bearer Book Not Signed In – All bearers must present an ID and sign in a book upon drop-off.
  • CPS Candidate Provided Assistance – Candidates are not allowed to provide assistance to any qualified voters.
  • IAP Incomplete Assistor Portion – Voters are allowed to have a family member or other person to assist them but they must fill this portion on the envelope completely.
  • IBP Incomplete Bearer Portion – Voters are permitted to have a bearer – anyone they designate – to take their sealed ballots to a designated staffed ballot drop but the voter must fill out this portion on the envelope completely.
  • MEL Mail Bearer Exceeded Limit
  • MOC Moved Out Of County
  • OEU One Envelope Unsealed – Both outer and inner envelopes must arrived sealed to be counted.
  • POA Power of Attorney
  • PPP Party Privilege after the Primary Election
  • PVP Primary-Voted Both Parties – This is spoiled ballot in the Primary as Unaffiliated voters can only return one party’s ballot.
  • VIM Voter Reg. ID Missing
  • VWP Voted in Wrong Party

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Uyen “Winn” Khuong, Executive Director, ATNJ Education Fund