Voters in Piscataway Township arrived to cast their ballots on Election Day and found the doors locked at polling sites housed inside local schools. Piscataway Schools described a roughly 15-minute delay in positioning a designated person at the door.
According to NJ.com, voters in the Middlesex County community arrived at school-based polling sites while the doors were locked on Election Day. Piscataway Township officials said the trouble stemmed from a mix-up over building security: “school officials incorrectly cited that security guards were not present,” the township said, which led staff to keep the doors locked rather than open them for voting as scheduled.
Township Clerk Steps In to Fix the Problem
Once the issue was identified, the Township Clerk’s Office corrected it and reopened the polling sites so voting could resume. The township encouraged voters who might have been turned away to return and cast their ballots, according to its announcement.
No students were present at the schools, which were closed for an in-service day.
No Voters Turned Away
Piscataway Schools said no one was turned away.
The incident adds to a string of Election Day security questions surfacing around New Jersey this week. In a separate matter reported the same day, the state's Attorney General's Office said it was investigating allegations that an off-duty law enforcement officer had been hired to provide security at an early-voting site in Atlantic City, according to NJ.com. County election officials in that case denied the allegation.
Security staffing at school-based polling sites has drawn scrutiny in New Jersey before. A 2022 NJ.com report noted that some schools used as polling locations had shifted to remote learning on Election Day specifically as an added security measure, underscoring how closely districts and election officials try to coordinate building access and safety when classrooms double as voting precincts.
