MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Board of Freeholders have passed a resolution unanimously asking the Governor and state Legislature to reject a primarily mail-in voting system for the November General Election, and to consider safe COVID-19 options for in-person voting, instead.

The freeholders contend the practice of an almost-100-percent mail-in-ballot election is fraught with concerns about voter fraud, voter disenfranchisement, postal delivery delays, a significant increase in election costs, and reliance on a flawed statewide voter/DMV computer registration database, plus significant delays in counting ballots.

Sending out 220,000 mail-in ballots for the July primary election resulted in a cost Morris County about $1.1 million, or an $807,000 increase compared to the 2019 primary election. Mailing an expected 370,000 ballots for the November election could almost double that cost and offer more election problems.

“Many of our residents are very upset about mail-in balloting, and have expressed their disdain about losing their choice on how to vote,’’ said Freeholder Director Deborah Smith. “The Board of Freeholders feel strongly that voter “choice” should refer to “how” to vote, not just “who” to vote for in a given election cycle.’’

Rather than mail-in balloting, the freeholders are urging the state to utilize in-person machine voting, with consideration of multiple days of voting and/or use of outdoor spaces for added safety, in conjunction with mail-in balloting.

The freeholders urge smart alternatives for in-person voting that would provide more opportunities and more days to vote, and more locations to safely vote. These options easily could accommodate the need to face coverings and social distancing.

The freeholders, in their resolution, noted that well before the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey law already permitted voting by mail, if a resident requested it. So, voters who are even remotely concerned about in-person voting already have the option to request a mail-in ballot, thereby enhancing voter choice.

The freeholders have sent their resolution to Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey Secretary of State; President of the State Senate; Speaker of the Assembly; the Morris County legislative delegation, New Jersey Association of Counties, and all other boards of freeholders across the state.

MORRIS COUNTY — Cyber scammers are trying to take advantage of the COVID pandemic by getting Morris County residents to click on an internet link with “information” supposedly sent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warns the Morris County Office of Information Technology.

The scammers are using the COVID-19 pandemic to find creative ways to weaken your defenses.

In this instance, a supposed CDC email includes the following intense subject line: “NOTICE OF CLOSING YOUR FACILITY AND DISINFECTING THE AREA – BY NCDC WH 20982 COV-19 Due To Recent Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic.”

You are instructed to download an attachment that is supposedly a letter from the CDC claiming they will close your workplace. If you download the file, however, you will find that it is actually a malicious program designed to gain access to your organization’s sensitive information.

How to beat the bad guys:

• Think before you click. These malicious actors are playing with your emotions and this threat relies on panicked clicking.
• Never click a link or download an attachment from an email you weren’t expecting. Remember, even if the sender appears to be from a legitimate organization, the email address could be spoofed.
• If you receive a suspicious email that claims to be from an official organization, such as the CDC or World Health Organization (WHO), report the email to the official organization through their website.

Stop Look Think – Don’t be fooled!

Get more information on COVID-19 scams from the Federal Trade Commission by clicking here.

MORRIS COUNTY — Parsippany-Troy Hills Councilmembers Janice McCarthy and Emily Peterson hosted a successful town hall Zoom call with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill last week. The call was not without some unexpected technical issues as hundreds of people attempted to join the call but were told that they were overcapacity.

According to an email sent out to attendees of the event by Mikie Sherrill’s Political Director, Ben Silva, the attendee capacity was exceeded following a surge of enthusiasm around the event, with sources indicating that there was an excess of 300 people who attempted to join the meeting.  As a result, there will be a second Sherrill Zoom call on Tuesday, August 18.  To register, visit mobilize.us/sherrillforcongress or pardems.org.

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey lake associations are hailing Governor Murphy’s second conditional veto of legislation which would have undermined some lake associations’ ability to assess their residents for the maintenance of lakes in a private lake community.

The Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act was amended in 2017, establishing that residents in private communities are members of the association. Attempts to modify PREDFDA to exclude lake associations from its provisions were introduced in 2019 in a bill sponsored by District 24 representatives Oroho, Wirths, and Space, which was conditionally vetoed by Governor Murphy.

The amendments failed to pass in 2019 and were re-introduced in 2020 as S908/A2480, which passed nearly unanimously, with Assemblyman Brian Bergen, an avid supporter of lake associations from District 25, the sole dissenting vote.

The Governor vetoed the legislation recognizing the attempt to shield certain property owners who objected to contributing, but noting that “the interests of these property owners must be carefully balanced against the interests of all other parties, including those property owners who have previously been contributing to their associations.” The Governor emphasized the need to “safeguard the ability of lake associations to collect funds necessary to comply with critical environmental, health, and safety requirements…”

Ernest Hofer, President of the New Jersey Coalition of Lake Associations, praised the Governor’s conditional veto, stating “our lake communities face many challenges in their efforts to maintain their natural resources, and the proposed legislation would have had a potentially devastating effect on some lake communities. It is more important than ever, particularly with the threat of Harmful Algae Blooms, that lake associations can rely on the equitable pro-rata contribution of all of the residents to maintain the lake community in which they live.”

NEW JERSEY — Three New Jersey industry leaders spoke with Assemblyman Brian Bergen Thursday about what is and isn’t working for restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic. The conversation took place through a Facebook Live event that streamed on the NJ Assembly GOP’s Facebook page.

Gov. Phil Murphy initially closed all New Jersey bars and restaurants for eat-in service on March 16 limiting service for takeout and delivery orders only.  On June 15, he allowed restaurants to offer outdoor dining but rolled back plans for indoor dining at 25 percent in early July.

Here are some of the highlights of the discussion with Marilou Halvorsen, president of the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association; Mike Perro, director of operations of P.J Whelihan’s Restaurant Group; and Bob Wagner, managing partner of Ott’s Restaurant Group.

1. Roughly 80 percent of restaurant workers are still unemployed – even after outdoor dining.

Only 23 percent of the almost 300,000 restaurant workers laid off in March has returned to work following the opening of outdoor dining said Halverson.  “So that is a huge number of people who are still unemployed and probably contributing to the unemployment numbers right now.  And they don’t have the extra $600 still coming in.”

2. Curbside pickup almost bankrupted most in the industry.

“We were teetering; we were on the brink,” explained Perro.  “Thank God, outdoor dining came along when it did or we probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now having this discussion.”

Wagner said that there were still dozens of restaurants in his area of Burlington County that operate only with curbside pickup.  “I don’t know how they do it; I really don’t,” he said.  “It’s sad.”

3. Bad weather complicates outdoor dining.

While everyone agreed that outdoor dining has been a lifesaver, operating in the weather-dependent outdoors presents new challenges for restaurant owners struggling to make ends meet.

Frequent thunderstorms over the last few weeks have made many owners give away as much as fifty percent of the meals prepared said Wagner.  “So it’s a lose, lose again,” he said.  “Because of the thunder and lightning, they can’t sit underneath a metal frame tent.”

Also detracting many customers, July was the hottest month on record in New Jersey in 125 years of record keeping.  But worrying restaurants for the future is the upcoming colder weather in the fall or winter.

“I can’t imagine what is going to happen if we can’t have indoor dining over the fall and winter period,” said Perro.  “It is going to a disaster for the industry.”

4. Unfriendly landlords prevent some restaurants from expanding outdoors.

Wagner said bad landlords are hurting many owners he knows.  “Some of these people who are stuck with these landlords and these leases that won’t let them use parts of the parking lot call me up for help and I don’t know what to tell them,” he said, “And these stories are every day that you hear this stuff.”

5. Murphy’s reversal on indoor dining had a catastrophic effect on many restaurateurs.

“It was catastrophic,” explained Halverson.  “They spent tens of thousands of dollars bringing in all their supplies, sanitizing their restaurants, training staff for new protocols and taking people off unemployment – it just created havoc for both employers and employees.”

She hopes that Murphy will sign a bill working its way through the legislature, sponsored by Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick and Senate President Steve Sweeney, that would reimburse restaurants for money spent on food and supplies in the days before restaurants were supposed to be able to open for indoor dining.

6. Neighboring states have reopened indoors safely.

Halverson said that states, such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Pennsylvania did not experience an uptick of cases after moving to indoor dining at 25 or 50 percent.  “There is no science to say that restaurants are dangerous,” she said.  “A majority of people know how to do it and do it safely.  And that is real science.”

“There is a precision to how we operate our restaurants under these circumstances,” added Perro who also operates a restaurant in Horsham, Pennsylvania.

7.  Restaurants have some of the toughest safety and cleaning protocols already in place.

Halverson said her industry has safety standards as high as in health care – and certainly higher than retail outlets.  “One of the things we do better than really anybody is the cleanliness,” she said.

8.  Governor Murphy has not met directly with industry experts to discuss options.

Halverson said that her organization talks with his staff on a regular basis but that numerous attempts to meet with the governor have not worked out.

“Maybe if he actually spoke with people like Mike and Bob and other people to really understand and walk him through what we do every day, he would be more comfortable,” said Halverson.  “Unfortunately we were told that he would not meet with us.”