Election Day chaos: Lines more than 4 hours long after N.J. county introduces new voting machines

Frustrated voters in Burlington County waited on lines as long as four hours or more on Election Day, after an advanced new voting machine system purchased earlier this year apparently could not keep up with the number of those seeking to cast ballots.
County officials did not disclose exactly what caused the problem, but attributed it in part to very high turnout.
Late in the evening, the state Attorney General’s Office went to court seeking to extend voting hours in Burlington until 9 p.m., citing the breakdown of voting machines across polling sites throughout the county. Several sites ran out of emergency ballots, resulting in long lines and voters leaving polling places without being able to cast their vote, it said.
“After machines at the affected polling sites were brought back online, long lines continued due to the backlog created when the machines were down, as well as difficulties faced by voters unfamiliar with the new machines,” said the agency said in its complaint.
Voters have effectively been disenfranchised, said Attorney General Matthew Platkin. His office said it received reports that multiple voters left polling sites without voting on account of voting machines that were not operative and long lines, with disabled and elderly voters unable to stand in long lines.
Superior Court Judge John E. Harrington in Burlington County granted the request, ordering the use of emergency ballots.
“There is no question the right to vote is paramont in New Jersey. It’s a cornerstone of our democracy,” he said during a brief hearing. “I believe its accurate that people are learning how to use the (new) machine. That said, I believe that a short extension of time is warranted.”
That meant anyone in line by 9 p.m. would still be allowed to vote. By the time the judge ruled at 8:40 p.m., more than 300 people were still on line at the Medford Methodist Church polling site. A poll worker there said she expected that it would be midnight before all voting was completed.
The massive delays began earlier in the day and then stretched into the evening.
Marie Powell said she spent more than three hours on a line to vote at the EMS station in Mount Laurel.
“I started at 10 a.m. It was very, very slow,” she said. “I didn’t know it was going to be like that. The woman in front of me was eight months pregnant, there were people with little kids, there were senior citizens sitting on the floor, it was terrible.”
With time on her hands, she started to see how long it took for each person to use the machine, she said.
Each took between four and 10 minutes.
“The people obviously didn’t know how to do the new voting machines,” she complained.
Burlington acquired a new batch of voting machines in March that officials boasted were simple to use, secure and more reliable than the county’s old machines.
County spokesman Dave Levinsky acknowledged that they were experiencing “what could possibly be record turnout across Burlington County, potentially surpassing the 80% turnout from the 2008 General Election when more than 224,000 Burlington County voters voted.”
During that election, there were also very long lines and waits at many Burlington County locations, when the new machines were first put into service. But now they have significantly more registered voters in the county, he said.
Levinsky conceded, however, that that reports on social media of delays of two and a half hours “may be accurate.”
Powell said she had looked at the county instructional videos ahead of time, which were promoted by the county so people could see how the machines worked before they came in to vote.
Her husband, Stephen Powell, got in line to vote at the same location at 4:30 p.m.. He was on the phone with a reporter when he finally made it into the building for his turn to sign in at 6:27 p.m. And then, he still had to wait for his turn on the machine.
“I just think this whole thing discourages people from coming out to vote,” he said. “We’ve been in Mount Laurel for more than 40 years and we’ve never seen anything like this.”
He noted that people on line have been kind, allowing those wth physical disabilitites to move ahead of other voters.
“Thank goodness it’s not raining,” he said. “I don’t know why it’s so backlogged,” he remarked.
His wife, a registered Republican, said she voted for Trump.
“It’s the economy. I think that’s No. 1,” she said. “But morals? Everybody has their choices. If people can’t afford to eat, or afford houses, nothing else matters.”
Pamela Busarello, 40, of Marlton, started her vote wait at 3:13 p.m. As a teacher, she said she budgeted 45 minutes to vote before the school day started, but she saw she wasn’t going to make it in time.
So she left, taught for the day, and went back.
It was 6:55 p.m. by the time she cast her vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, during which time she watched people make it easier to wait, including a husband who left the line to bring sundries from Wawa back to his wife so they could wait together, at least with fuller bellies.
“I think it was a combination of huge turnout and the new vote machines,” Busarello said, noting she did not watch the county’s instructive video about the new machines but said the workers gave easy guidance. “I’ve been a voter here since 2008 and I’ve never had to wait for more than five people.”
“I’m hoping it doesn’t turn people away. I felt some excitement,” she said, adding that she spent her time in line reading Stephen King’s “The Shining.” “As an English teacher, I want to make sure the leader of our country does not use words in a damaging way.”
The long lines were not universal but were reported on social media in Mansfield Township, Marlton, Mount Laurel, Medford, Medford Lakes and Westampton.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @KPMueller.
Matthew Enuco may be reached at [email protected]. Follow Matt on X