Passaic Today

As early-voting records were recently shattered all across the country, in-person votes in New Jersey took a backseat to mail-in ballots.

Though only 60.4% of the mail-in ballots sent out to all New Jersey voters had been returned as of Nov. 2, even those approximately 3.7 million ballots accounted for 92.4% of the total number of ballots cast in 2016, according to the U.S. Elections Project. 

Yet, with over 6 million ballots mailed out by the state, elections officials have said they do not plan to even start counting in-person votes from Election Day until Tuesday, Nov. 10. This is so priority is given to processing all the mail-in ballots they received. Of those approximately 2.3 million ballots that were still out as of Nov. 2, they are not required to be received until Nov. 10.

Gary Brenner, of Wayne Township, and who works with the Convention of States, recently told the Passaic News that he will be among those in-person voters who will be waiting an extra week to be counted.

Though Brenner said he would vote in every race on the ballot, he said he felt the presidential race is the most “critically important.”

“This presidential election is about the critical need for Americans to accept embrace our personal responsibility, and to put it before collective responsibility,” Brenner told the Passaic News.

Brenner said that in order to defend their God-given rights, the people of the U.S. need to first accept their personal responsibilities.

Yet, that conviction also influences Brenner’s concerns in local and state elections, he said. In the New Jersey11th Congressional District, he had liked to see challenger Rosemary Becchi (R) unseat the incumbent Mikie Sherrill (D), he stated. 

He had also hoped to see New Jersey 7th Congressional District incumbent Tom Malinowski (D) unseated by challenger Thomas Kean, Jr. (R), said Brenner.

“It's vitally important to vote, each and every time we have the opportunity; in each and every election, it’s vitally important for Americans to vote,” Brenner told the Passaic News.

Yet, this election was important as an opportunity in particular for U.S. voters to “emphasize, practice and promote self-governance,” said Brenner.

“Self-governance starts with personal responsibility,” Brenner told the Passaic News, “which includes using our voices to defend our God-given rights."