November 2020 election ballot counting
Dear Ocean County Board of Elections,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
For the November, 2020 election, OPRA request includes
1. Ballot counting:
• Video of ballot counting (copy or accessible online);
• Any and all scanner/tabulator logs or reports regarding ballots defined as unconditional acceptance, unconditional rejection or query the voter for revision.
• Were plastic ballot or collapsible ballot boxes utilized and, if so, how many were used and were they numbered sequentially. If yes, does a report of record exist, kindly provide?
• Was internet, wireless and telephone/cable carrier modem accessible during election data transfer. If yes, kindly provide a copy of safeguard protocol to secure election data transfer.
Yours faithfully,
Cathy Teitel
Good afternoon,
Per OPRA request, regarding your individual bullet points for ballot
counting:
Bullet point 1: Request is denied, as record does not exist.
Bullet point 2: Attached is voter history report for specified election.
Some of the fields specified in your request are not available under OPRA.
Bullet point 3: This portion of your request poses a question and does not
specify a document or a description that would point to a document, as
required under OPRA.
However, in the spirit of cooperation, I am attaching a list of the secure
mail-in ballot drop boxes that were utilized during the 2020 General
Election. Furthermore, during the 2020 General Election and only for that
election due to the Covid-19 pandemic, mail-in ballots were accepted on
election day in all official polling places in all counties of NJ. For
that purpose, collapsable secured ballot boxes were utilized to retain
those received ballots. Any voters returning ballots in this case were
required to fill out and sign a bearer book and were limited to returning
just their own ballot.
Bullet point 4: This portion of your request poses a question and does not
specify a document or a description that would point to a document, as
required under OPRA.
However, in the spirit of cooperation, our voting machines are not
internet or Wifi capable.
Please reply or call if you require further assistance with this request.
If your request for access to a government record has been denied or
unfilled within the seven (7) business days required by law, you have a
right to challenge the decision by the Ocean County Board of Election to
deny access. At your option, you may either institute a proceeding in the
Superior Court of New Jersey or file a complaint with the Government
Records Council (GRC) by completing the Denial of Access Complaint Form.
You may contact the GRC by toll-free telephone at 866-850-0511, by mail at
P.O. Box 819, Trenton, NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [1][email address], or
at their web site at [2]www.state.nj.us/grc. The GRC can also answer other
questions about the law. All questions regarding complaints filed in
Superior Court should be directed to the Court Clerk in your County.
Thank you.
Kevin Enright
Ocean County Board of Elections
Ph: (732)929-4773
Fax: (732)506-5110
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.state.nj.us/grc
Dear Enright, Hugh,
Thank you so much for the information sent as per my request via attachments. There is some information in question, and I would like to ask the following:
Request #1 “Record does not exist,” -No further action needed
#2 provided a “voter history report,” - The log does not seem to specify what the votes were defined as.
#3 & #4 reported a specific document needs to be requested, not posed as a question. #3 reported “collapsible drop boxes used-Will need to request a chain of custody log for these boxes to see how many were used and if they were numbered.
#4 Denied internet access from voting machines- Maybe we can see if they have records to confirm this statement?
Yours sincerely,
Cathy Teitel
Good afternoon Cathy,
Regarding your reply on 9/2,
Regarding your #2: Please clarify what you are referring to when you say
“The log does not seem to specify what the votes were defined as”
Regarding #3: You specified you will need to request the chain of custody
logs for the collapsible ballot boxes.
Do you still intend to make that request? As of yet, it has not been
received by this office. Since this would require records to be retrieved
from archives, I need to present a formal request aside from an intention
to submit a request.
Regarding #4: Since the item you posed as a question was already answered
in the spirit of cooperation, please specify the name of a document or a
description that will point to a specific document, as officially required
under OPRA.
Thank you.
Kevin Enright
Ocean County Board of Elections
Ph: (732)929-4773
Fax: (732)506-5110
From: Cathy Teitel <[OPRA #34882 email]>
Sent: Friday, September 2, 2022 10:15 AM
To: Enright, Hugh <[Ocean County Board of Elections request email]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: OPRA data
This message has originated from an External Source. Please use proper
judgment and caution when opening attachments, clicking links, or
responding to this email.
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Dear Enright, Hugh,
Thank you so much for the information sent as per my request via
attachments. There is some information in question, and I would like to
ask the following:
Request #1 “Record does not exist,” -No further action needed
#2 provided a “voter history report,” - The log does not seem to specify
what the votes were defined as.
#3 & #4 reported a specific document needs to be requested, not posed as a
question. #3 reported “collapsible drop boxes used-Will need to request a
chain of custody log for these boxes to see how many were used and if they
were numbered.
#4 Denied internet access from voting machines- Maybe we can see if they
have records to confirm this statement?
Yours sincerely,
Cathy Teitel
Dear Mr. Enright,
In response to your previous message of clarification, I would like to request some specifics.
For item #2, I would like to know which part of this request is not available of voter election history to update my records;
For item #3, if this is affirmative, may I request the interior ballot chain of custody log procedures for the drop boxes along with seal identification and containder ID numbers accompanying these drop boxes;
For #4, is there still no access to internet avaialbility?
Thank you so much for your time and consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Cathy Teitel
Yours sincerely,
Cathy Teitel