Control of the House and Senate could hinge on New Jersey provisional ballot counts

Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon is continuing to get the word out, statewide, about the impact of the new Vote-By-Mail law signed by Governor Murphy last month, which went into effect immediately.

If you voted by mail in the 2016 presidential election, you won’t be able cast your ballot in the voting booth/machine this year, unless you opted out in writing by last Friday.

If a Vote-By-Mail ballot is sent to you and you go to the polls on election day, you will be offered a provisional ballot. You will not be allowed to vote by machine.

As NJTV reporter Andrew Schmertz noted at the conclusion of the video above, the impact of this new law could very well have national implications. If New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race between Bob Menendez and Bob Hugin is close, the outcome could depend of the provisional ballot count statewide. Likewise for close House races. Schmertz concluded his report that we might not know which party will control Congress on election night.

It is possible that control of the House and the Senate may not be known until Thanksgiving, given the time it could take to hand count and inspect an onslaught on provisional ballots, cross check them against Vote-By-Mail ballots, go through recounts and likely court challenges in various New Jersey counties.