Mercer County Charging $53,208.25 for Public Election Records
Jersey Desk/10271804

TRENTON, N.J. - JerseyDesk -- A citizen is reporting that Mercer County is now charging prohibitive fees for public election records that previously were received at no charge. This is the first case of a New Jersey county hiding election data from election integrity groups and citizens by using new provisions in the hugely unpopular Open Public Records Act revision passed in June 2024.

The new law made significant changes to the existing OPRA law and all but eliminated the fee shifting of legal fees to the government that loses an OPRA lawsuit. All of these changes severely reduce incentives of governments to be transparent. The bill was objected to by advocacy groups of all political leanings and the media. A survey of NJ residents by FDU showed 81% against changing the law.

This response to an OPRA request for election data kills the ability of citizens to investigate the validity of elections in Mercer County, the County that disenfranchised voters with its handling of elections as recently as 2022, for which the County is being sued by residents. Furthermore this is an extremely alarming precedent that greatly reduces trust in the electoral process heading into the General Election this Fall.

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RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of July 11, 2024, Reference # R006728-071124

There will be a special service charge as an extraordinary amount of time will be required to produce the requested government records. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5. Dominion On-site support will be required at a fixed figure of $2,200.00. In addition, it is estimated that this will require two individuals each working approximately 437 hours at an overtime hourly rate of $58.282/hour. A 1-terabyte external hard drive is required at cost of $70.00. Total cost: $53,208.25.

Paul R. Adezio
Mercer County Counsel

About Citizens for NJ Election Integrity

Citizens for NJ Election Integrity (C4NJEI) and its members believe that the electoral process is the cornerstone of self-governance and our Constitutional Republic. C4NJEI is concerned with the soundness and security of the systems used as part of the electoral process. As a non-partisan organization, C4NJEI does not participate in any political campaign, nor does it endorse any candidate for public office. Please visit https://www.citizens4njei.org/ or follow at https://x.com/Citizens4NJEI.