Missing voter rolls and unfounded bomb threats: Voters in Chester County and New Jersey run into issues at the polls

Some Pennsylvania and New Jersey voters looking to cast their ballots in the 2025 general election faced challenges at the polls early Tuesday.

Here’s a look at some of the issues that have cropped up so far across the Delaware Valley:

Third parties omitted from voter rolls in Chester County

When Chester County polling places opened on Tuesday, the voter rolls only included those registered as Republicans and Democrats, with reports of voters being turned away. Others said they were able to vote with provisional ballots.

In an email statement sent around 9:50 a.m., Chester County Voter Services said poll books at all precincts “currently do not include the names of voters registered with third parties.” The issue was identified just after polling centers opened at 7 a.m.

The email reported that Voter Services was actively delivering supplemental polling books to locations. In the meantime, registered voters whose names did not appear in the poll book could vote with provisional ballots.

Chester County has 230 polling locations and over 385,000 registered voters. Of those voters, over 75,000 are third-party voters — including Independents, Libertarians and “no affiliation” and non-partisan voters.

The experience was “disenfranchising,” Chester County resident Robert Healey said.

“Our vote today matters more than I think at any time in my lifetime,” he said.

Healey arrived at his polling place at around 7:20 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“I went down and my name was not in the [polling] book next to my wife’s name, where it has been for the last 13 elections I’ve taken part of here in Chester County,” he said. “So I immediately was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ ”

He said he and several others in the polling place were independent voters. Election officials asked the independent voters to fill out provisional ballots.

“Two of the four voters over there walked out because they didn’t have time to fill out a provisional ballot,” he said. “It was a little time-consuming. It took me an extra 10 minutes or so.”

While Healey said this “may not seem like a lot,” he added that voters may be on their way to work or not have that extra time. He was concerned that independent voters may be unable to  return to polling places to vote.

“We’re in a red-leaning county to begin with, and if you really want to disenfranchise or make it more difficult for a part of the populace to vote, then taking away the independent voter is critically important and/or making it more difficult,” he said.

A “formal review” of why third-party voters were omitted from poll books will take place, the county Voter Services email said, and the department will “take action to ensure this does not occur again.”

Unfounded bomb threats in New Jersey

In New Jersey, which is holding one of two gubernatorial elections in the nation, polling places in Bergen, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Passaic counties were the target of bomb threats.

The state Office of the Attorney General said the bomb threats were not credible and that law enforcement officers had “responded quickly” at each polling place to “ensure the safety of every voter.”

Some of the affected polling places have reopened and officials at other locations are redirecting voters to a nearby location to cast their ballots.

“Law enforcement has determined that there are no credible threats at this time,” said New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way, who serves as the state’s top election official. “We are doing everything in our power to protect voters and poll workers and coordinate closely with state, local and federal partners to ensure a smooth and safe election.”