New Jersey § 19:53a-7

§ 19:53a-7.

a. Thirty minutes before the opening of the polls the local district election officers

shall arrive at the polling place, place the voting devices in position for voting,

and examine them to see that they have the correct ballot labels by comparing them

with the sample ballots, and are in proper working order. They shall open and check the ballot cards, supplies, records and forms, and post

the sample ballots and instructions to voters. b. Each voter requesting assistance shall be instructed how to operate the voting

device before he enters the voting booth. If he needs additional instruction after entering the voting booth and requests

assistance, two members of the district board who are not members of the same political party may if necessary enter the booth and give him additional instructions. c. The district election official attending the voting machine shall inspect the face

of the machine and the ballot at least once per hour to see that the face of the machine

and the ballot are in their proper place and that neither has been mutilated, defaced,

tampered with or changed and that the machine has not been changed. d. After the voter has marked his ballot cards, he shall place the ballot card inside

the envelope provided for this purpose and return it to the election officer, who

shall remove the stub, place it on a file string, and deposit the envelope with the

ballot card inside in the ballot box. No ballot card from which the stub has been detached shall be accepted by the election

official in charge of the ballot box, but it shall be marked “Spoiled” and placed

with the spoiled ballot cards. e. Any voter who spoils his ballot card may return it enclosed in the envelope and

secure another. The word “Spoiled” shall be written across the face of the envelope, which shall

be placed on the same string with the stubs. f. As soon as the polls have been closed and the last qualified voter has voted, all

unused ballot cards shall be placed in a container and sealed for return to the board

of elections. The ballot box shall be opened and any write-in votes counted, unless these votes

are to be counted by duly appointed bipartisan tabulating teams at the counting center. Before write-in votes are counted they shall be compared with votes cast on the

ballot card for the same office. If the voter has cast more votes for an office than he is entitled to vote for,

the vote for that office shall be declared null and void and that vote shall not be

counted for that office. Votes cast for duly nominated candidates on the ballot card will not be voided because

of an invalid write-in vote, but if otherwise valid shall be counted. The voted ballot cards shall next be placed in the ballot card container for delivery

to the counting center, and the voting devices shall be placed in their containers

for returning to the county board of elections. g. The district board election officers shall prepare a report of the number of voters

who have voted, as indicated by the poll list, the number of write-in votes and any

other votes counted by the district board and the number of spoiled ballots, and shall

place the original copy of this report in the ballot card container for delivery to

the counting center, which thereupon shall be sealed so that no additional ballot

cards may be deposited or removed. Such container shall be durably constructed so as to be resistant to fire, water

and tampering. The duplicate copy of said report shall be returned to the county election board

with other records. Two district election board officers who are not members of the same political party shall forthwith deliver the ballot card container to the counting center or other

place designated by the county board. The county board may, in its discretion, direct that ballots be delivered to one

or more collection points from which points the ballots shall be transported collectively

to the counting center by two duly appointed deputies who are not members of the same political party . The district board shall receive a receipt before releasing the ballots to said

deputies.