The Burlington County Commissioners announced the receipt of the final report from the independent special counsel detailing its review and analysis of the 2024 General Election and its recommendations for improvements.

The 79-page report from Connell Foley LLP updated the findings and recommendations from the law firm’s interim report, which was submitted in April before the June primary election.

Both the interim report and the law firm’s final report are posted online on the Burlington County website and the County Commissioners page.

“We asked for an in-depth and unbiased review of what went wrong during last November’s election and Connell Foley did exactly that,” Burlington County Commissioner Director Felicia Hopson said. “Their final report is comprehensive and complete. Every aspect was reviewed and nothing was left out. The report details the full assortment of issues that plagued the 2024 General Election. This is what the board requested. This is the accountability and action that voters demanded.”

Connell Foley’s review

The Commissioners appointed Connell Foley as independent special counsel in January to review all aspects of the 2024 General Election, including the deployment of new voting machines, the locations and makeup of voting districts, poll worker training and management.

The Roseland-based law firm is one of the largest and most respected law firms in New Jersey. Among its past and current attorneys are the late New Jersey Governor and Chief Justice Richard Hughes, former U.S. District Judge John W. Bissell, former Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and former Essex County Superior Court Judge Eugene J. Codey Jr.

The law firm specified the report was based on interviews with dozens of County election officials, voters, poll workers, municipal officials, voting technology and support vendors, and others with direct knowledge of the Burlington County’s 2024 election process. Several individuals who were interviewed before the interim report’s release were interviewed again before the final report was completed. The report also states that many new additional people were interviewed, including 14 poll workers. 

Thousands of pages of records were also reviewed, including voter data, machine deployment records, poll worker training materials and diagnostic reports, including ones from the 2025 primary.

More than 76,000 voters cast ballots during the primary election, amounting to about 21% of the county’s nearly 360,000 registered voters. 

Findings and recommendations

Among the issues cited in both reports were a general lack of communication, coordination and collaboration among Burlington County election offices, the rollout of new voting machines during a busy presidential year, unbalanced election districts overdue for redistricting, inadequate poll worker training with the new machines and voter and poll worker aversion to new technology. The reports also identified the number of voting machines, accessibility and layout of certain polling locations, and delays in resolving some technological issues at polling places.

Recommendations covered numerous aspects of the election process, including poll worker recruitment and training, voter education, recalculating the number of voting machines in each polling locations and other changes. Both reports recommended adjusting election districts to ensure none of them are too large, boosting the available technological support, expanding early voting locations and hours, seeking more input from local municipal clerks and increasing communication and collaboration between the different election offices.

While most of the findings and recommendations were the same as those specified in the interim report, the final report did provide updated information and details, including actions taken before and after the June primary election. Some of the completed action items include:

• Expanded poll worker recruitment by the Election Board, including bipartisan public outreach targeting new poll workers who may be more comfortable with new voting technology.
• Implemented poll worker compensation for participating in training.
• Purchased additional machines for polling locations so that each polling location has at least one ballot marking device for every 750 registered voters.
• Expanded the training, responsibility and authority of “advanced poll workers” who have additional responsibilities for polling place setup, operations and close down.
• Expanded voter education with in-person outreach to voters about vote-by-mail and early voting options. 
• Streamlined some of the voting process with touch-screen ballot marking devices to make it simpler and faster.
• Redrew the boundaries of election districts in five Burlington County towns (Chesterfield, Medford, Mount Laurel, Shamong and Southampton) to ensure the number of registered voters in each election district is appropriate. Additional redistricting will occur in other towns in 2026 and ensuing years when appropriate.
• Expanded the number of IT “rovers” who are available to respond to polling locations on Election Day to help troubleshoot technological issues.

The report also recommended the County should invest in permanent WiFi at all polling locations to ensure connectivity of electronic poll books and smoother poll openings. The County announced last month it planned to use a $200,000 grant secured in the FY 2025-26 State Budget and Appropriations Act for this project.

The Commissioners said the recommendations already implemented were notable but stressed that additional actions by the Elections Board are needed.

“While we were pleased that we did not have the same long lines, delays and waits during the primary that were experienced last November, the report makes clear that more actions are still necessary, including improvements in poll worker recruitment and training, redistricting, voter education and technical support,” said Hopson. “If there are additional costs involved, we are committed to providing the necessary funding for the Elections offices to implement the report’s remaining recommendations. That is our promise to voters.”

The Commissioners also called for bipartisan collaboration to make additional improvements.

“The report states that the root causes of many of the problems were due to political tension, mistrust and personality conflicts. This is unacceptable. Politics should have no business in how our elections operate,” Hopson said. “Both Democrats and Republicans must work together to protect the integrity of our elections. Every eligible voter who wants to participate in our democracy needs to be able to participate. Voters deserve nothing less.”