Perth Amboy Mayoral Candidate Joel Pabon Sr. Champions Voter CHOICE for the upcoming November 3rd, 2020 Election

Perth Amboy, NJ – In direct response to Governor Phil Murphy’s mandate of declaring the
upcoming November General Election to be primarily cast via vote by mail, Councilman and Perth
Amboy Mayoral Candidate Joel Pabon Sr. questions the Governor’s executive order’s rationale.

“If you are able to stand in line at the grocery stores, the DMV, participate in protests, and register
to vote on an electronic kiosk in a hospital Emergency room, you should be able to have a choice
on how you want to vote in the upcoming November election, and if your choice is to vote on a
machine, you should be able to vote that way,” said Pabon. “It’s supposed to be a democratic
process. It’s unheard of that a Governor would come and say everyone has to vote by mail. Perth
Amboy is a mostly Democratic town, and I’m not saying you should not vote by mail, but what I am
saying is that it should be a voter’s choice on how to vote.”

“I anticipate much confusion by the voters because they have been used to voting in a traditional
way on a voting machine. I hope I’m wrong, but this election is going to be a mad house and the
money that is going to be spent in trying to get the process in place tells me that our state is not
ready to handle so many vote by mails and many voters in our community feel that way,” stated
Pabon.

According to the executive order issued by Governor Murphy not all polling locations will be
opened in Perth Amboy and when a voter goes to a polling location on Election Day, the voter will
only be allowed to vote via a provisional ballot unless the voter falls under an ADA exemption.

“I’m informing registered voters to please contact the Middlesex County Board of Elections to make
sure they have a current address on record,” said Pabon. “I don’t want voters to be
disenfranchised or to miss the opportunity to vote which is why I’m for VOTER CHOICE. The vote
by mail ballots are supposed to be going out to voters around September 19th. When you receive
them, don’t delay in filling them out, and mailing them back. “

Perth Amboy Council President Bill Petrick also echoed a similar position in a recent City council
meeting. “I believe that if we can go out to restaurants, and we can come here [to the council
meetings]…There should be no reason why we can’t use the voting machines to vote in all the
voting places that we would normally do especially because the state invested so much money in
brand new electronic voting machines that would provide you with a receipt. Only to say now that
you’re not gonna use them,” said Petrick. “I think it would be a lot cheaper for them and we would
get the results of the election a whole lot quicker if we were using the electronic voting machines
that they purchased. I think this was a mistake on their part.”