UPDATED: Election responsibilities shared by clerk, board

The Sussex County Clerk’s Office has issued more than 13,300 ballots to residents for the Nov. 5 election.

Those ballots were requested by voters and may be returned by mail or left in one of the 14 official drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Election Day. The list of drop boxes is online at sussexcountyclerk.org/ballot-drop-box-locations-in-sussex-county/

The boxes are monitored by security cameras and are picked up by teams of one Republican and one Democrat.

Voters no longer need to state a reason for requesting that a ballot be sent to them.

Early in-person voting begins Saturday, Oct. 26 and continues through Sunday, Nov. 3.

Sussex County residents may vote early in person at three locations:

• Cochran House Building, Level PL, 83 Spring St., Newton.

• Sussex-Wantage Branch Library, Wantage.

• Louise Childs Branch Library, Stanhope.

The hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Polls will be open on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Responsibilities for conducting elections in the county are divided between the clerk’s office and the Board of Elections, said Jeffrey Parrott, the county clerk.

He certifies the election results, which are counted by the Board of Elections. Unofficial results are usually available late on the night of the election. They are then sent to state officials.

The board also handles voter registration, updating the voter rolls and hiring people to work at the polls.

Parrott said the number of ballots sent out by the clerk’s office and the number returned usually correlate.

“I’m sure there’s pockets of fraud. But overall, I think that the conditions that are in place right now have been doing a very good preventative job to stop that - if there was anything out there,” he said. “We do the best that we possibly can under the statutory requirements set by the state and federal government.

”If somebody wants to cheat - I don’t care who it is - they’re going to try to cheat. And if they do that, hopefully we would catch it.”

He urged voters to check the return address to confirm that the ballot they received came from the county clerk’s office.

Some organizations send out mailings that look very similar to the official ballots, he noted.

Parrott said his staff begins preparing for an election nine months in advance.

It takes a crew of workers about two weeks to prepare the ballots for mailing.