Terrified of the consequences of the midterm elections, President Donald J. Trump wants to nullify them, along the way causing process havoc in the Garden State - and everywhere - two months before Election Day.

His March executive order to restrict voting by mail has prompted county clerks in New Jersey to step up efforts to ensure the President does not derail a free, safe and fair election.

Trump blames VBMs for his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, which Trump never accepted. He stirred a mob on Jan. 6, 2021 to assault the United States Capitol in an attempt to prevent his own vice president from certifying the election results. He also backs judges who refuse to acknowledge that he lost the election to Biden.

Now, as part of his ongoing attempt to restrict VBMs, by way of context, from SCOTUSblog:

Trump wants the Department of Homeland Security to furnish lists of the adult U.S. citizens in each state and to send those lists to states at least 60 days before a federal election. The second provision tells the U.S. attorney general to “prioritize the investigation and, as appropriate, the prosecution of State and local officials … who issue Federal ballots to individuals not eligible to vote in a Federal election.” And the third provision requires states to give the U.S. Postal Service a list of voters to whom the states intend to send mail ballots, and it prohibits the USPS from mailing ballots to voters who are not on the lists of “enrolled” voters that the USPS will create. 

Governor Mikie Sherrill resisted Trump's order on legal grounds, issuing a statement in April:

“The Constitution is clear: states run elections, not the federal government. New Jersey has administered safe, secure, and accessible voting for generations.

“Our vote-by-mail system works. Millions of New Jerseyans — Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters alike — rely on it. The president himself has cast ballots by mail. This order does nothing to strengthen election integrity and is designed to make it harder for eligible citizens to vote.

“Like everything Donald Trump gets involved in – from jobs to healthcare, to gas prices, a war with no plan, or even running our airports – he creates chaos and makes life harder for New Jerseyans. Let’s be clear: any problem with mail in ballots would be caused by Trump himself. I will take every action available to protect New Jerseyans fundamental voting rights.”

Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin acknowledged the President's executive order requiring each state to submit a vote by mail file to a portal.

"We're not in compliance of the executive order," said Durkin.

But it's complicated, to say the least.

"As of today, the portal is not even available," Durkin said. "It's not even ready to accept files from each state."

Rules are still up in the air ahead of the Nov. 3rd election.

Subsequent to Sherrill's expressed resistance and as the feds struggle to fast track a subversion of the process, a story exposed the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicle's improper registration of noncitizen voters during the administration of Sherrill's successor, Governor Phil Murphy. In addition, Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell, who serves as NJ's secretary of state, is under an internal investigation.

Against that backdrop and advised by the state to do so, "My office is moving forward [next Friday] with vote-by-mail ballots," Cumberland County Clerk Celeste Riley told InsiderNJ.

So are the other clerks, as they keep up with developments on the legal front.

From The Hill:

The Trump administration on Sunday again asked the Supreme Court to allow it to restrict mail-in voting this election cycle.

In a 40-page emergency application, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to immediately permit the administration to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending mail-in ballots to residents of states that have not submitted a list of eligible voters based on citizenship data.

Sauer argued the administration is likely to succeed on the merits in two cases concerning the policy — one a group of Democratic-led states brought against the Postal Service and another the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts brought against the administration.

Said Somerset County Clerk Steve Peter, "If the President gets the Supreme Court to go along, the voter still has a few options, to either pick up a ballot [and fill it out at the clerk's office] or participate at an early polling place."

Early voting begins on October 24th.

"Of course, it doesn't do anything for veterans at the veterans' homes who served our country, who perhaps can't vote except by mail and others who vote by mail," Peter added. "For those voters, there is a real risk that the President will disenfranchise people."

Peter noted Trump's false claims of institutionalized fraud.

"The core argument is simply not true [regarding the illegitimacy of VBMs]," said the clerk, who described a system in which two separate offices oversee the process.

"There's considerable double checking and there have been plenty of instances where issues have been caught, but it would be like banning cars because there's speeding," said Peter.

The clerk conceded the seriousness of the situation.

"If democracy itself doesn't survive, then this is all just theater," he said.

Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello said, "What we've been doing is following case law and making sure we proceed. The state is providing us with guidance. We are notifying people that if they don't receive a ballot by Oct. 13th, we ask them to call us in order for us to either hand deliver or send via overnight mail.

"We're not going to let this interference impact the election," the clerk added. "New Jersey had filed a lawsuit objecting to the postal regulations and we're also following that and expecting to hear guidance from the state. We're just going to move forward with the constitutional argument that the states are legally responsible for elections."

Middlesex County Clerk Nancy Pinkin said she is proceeding as if this is a normal election, while acknowledging that "everything can be challenged."

"Different things happen with every election and we always prepare for something happening," Pinkin told InsiderNJ. "From the technical side we have a lot of voters who use VBMs and so it's not something we can easily turn on a dime."

If the court schedule drags, the situation could get more complex, Pinkin admitted.

As of right now, "We're still at a point where we can function normally but the other concern is some states have already mailed their ballots," she added. "If some states move forward and others are waiting there will be an imbalance and that might create a challenge after the fact. ...Finally, it's about protecting the Constitution and democracy."