Gloucester County GOP To Salvatore: Election Day Wasn’t So Smooth

Woodbury, NJ (November 7, 2008) - Gloucester County Republican Executive Committee (GCREC) Chair Loran Oglesby has taken issue with a recent news report claiming that Election Day went smoothly in Gloucester County.

At issue is a recent news report in which Gloucester County's Superintendant of Elections, Stephanie Salvatore, said everything went so smoothly, she is still waiting for the phone call to tell her something went wrong.

GCREC Chair Loran Oglesby asked, "Waiting for the phone call? Does she even remember the morning of Election Day?"

"The fact is Ms. Salvatore knowingly allowed the polls in Washington Township, Paulsboro, West Deptford and several other communities to open without poll workers having complete lists of those who voted absentee," Oglesby said. "We placed a phone call to Donna Barber at the NJ Department of State, Division of Elections, and learned the polls were not permitted to be open without those lists."

"Furthermore, we have in our possession an email sent by Salvatore from her County email address to municipal clerks clearly stating that the clerks could choose to ‘do nothing' with the lists of those who voted absentee over the weekend prior to Election Day and that she would ‘prosecute' if someone tries to vote twice," Oglesby stated. "In other words, by allowing municipal clerks to ‘do nothing' the law was violated by allowing polling places to open without poll workers having any way of knowing if some voters were voting twice."

Oglesby continued, "We've also discovered at least two voters who were included in Washington Township's supplemental absentee voter list who are registered to vote in other towns. These individuals, and countless others, may have voted twice and Salvatore says everything ran smoothly."

"Obviously Gloucester County Board of Elections needs a Deputy Superintendant of Elections to keep elections fair," Oglesby said.

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Paid for by GCREC