Hysterical voters denounce mail-in ballots weeks before Nov. 3 presidential election

We received our 3 mail-in ballots in late September.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I've long believed America has some of the laziest, most apathetic voters in the world, but now I see they are also some of the dumbest.

In New Jersey, vote-by-mail ballots for the Nov. 3 election are being sent to every "active registered voter," according to an executive order signed by Governor Murphy.

That order was cited by Bergen County Clerk John  S. Hogan, one of three county officials in charge of the election process.

The governor's executive order "aims to ensure that voters preserve their constitutional right to vote while upholding the priority of public health during the Covid-19 public health emergency," Hogan said.

But statewide voting by mail has unhinged at least one Maywood woman, who called for a class-action lawsuit against "our illegal, demonic governor."

Voting by mail

I and tens of thousands of other voters have used mail-in ballots for years in Hackensack school and City Council elections, in statewide primaries, and in general elections for governor, state Legislature, Congress and president.

We received our 3 mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 election yesterday, and all registered voters should receive them by Oct. 5, Hogan said.

On Nov. 3, voters have three ways to cast their vote-by-mail ballots:

• Complete and return your ballot by mail in the postage-paid envelope provided. If postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by Nov. 10 at 8 p.m., the ballot will still be counted.
• Drop your completed ballot at one of "the secure drop boxes" located throughout Bergen County by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.
• Bring your completed ballot to your polling place by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.

There will be a limited number of polling places open on election day "with voting machines exclusively for blind and disabled voters," Hogan said in a flier sent to every residential postal customer.

Hysterical voters

On Nextdoor, an online community forum, one Maywood woman referred to Governor Murphy as "very evil" and called mail-in voting "nonsense."

She also referred to mail-in ballots as "voter interference" and "election intimidation," and claimed they are "criminally illegal."

She called on other voters to join her in a class-action lawsuit to sue "our illegal, demonic governor."

She complained a sports arena in Newark was being used as a voting place to intimidate voters like her, because the people who live there "believe in garbage movements" that are "nothing short of anarchist attempts to overthrow the government" -- an apparent reference to Black Lives Matter.

But she denied that she is a racist.

Sadly, she was not alone in trying to sow confusion about mail-in ballots, and cite conspiracy theories and other nonsense, echoing President Trump.

Nextdoor usually is a forum for the exchange of helpful information, goods and services. 

Track your ballot

Mail-in ballots have become easier to use in recent years, and for the Nov. 3 election, you can actually "track your ballot" and see if it has been received by the Board of Elections.

The return envelope doesn't require postage as in the past -- it's postage paid.

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 presidential election is Oct. 13, 2020. Visit njelections.org.

That is also the site where you can track your ballot.

Watch this short video of Hogan demonstrating how to fill out and mail your ballot.

 

Read: Mail-in ballots boosted

 turnout in school election

When is the last time you got a $197 credit on your gas and electric bill from PSE&G?

SUNNY SIDE UP: Solar panels on my home in Hackensack, N.J., were installed in 2009 and 2012.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I printed out my utility bill and stared in disbelief at a credit of $197.50.

I have solar panels and electric storage batteries on my home so I couldn't understand why since May I was receiving what I consider high bills for electric service.

Before 2020, my solar panels generated enough electricity to run my home for 4 months to 5 months every year so I didn't have to use or pay for any electricity from the grid.

Today, I called PGE&G and learned that during the Covid-19 health emergency bills have been estimated (starting on April 6, 2020), and the reading of meters didn't resumed until Sept. 3.

The bill I printed out this week is for March 7, 2020, to Sept. 3, 2020.

I received a total credit for those 6 months of $1,249.09 for overcharges on my gas and electric bills.

Hallelujah!

Where the millions of plastic bags recycled at ShopRite go and what becomes of them

RECYCLED INTO WHAT? My cart at the ShopRite in Paramus, N.J., is nearly filled with plastic shopping bags that are stuffed with more bags and lots of plastic food wrapping and plastic film destined for a recycling plant in Elizabeth, N.J. 

PLASTIC BAG BAN: After Paramus banned single-use plastic bags, ShopRite, Whole Foods Market and other supermarkets in the borough began bagging food purchases in paper, above. ShopRite's paper bag contains 60% recycled content and is itself recyclable.

Materials collected at supermarkets

turned into community playgrounds

Editor's note: This post has been updated with ShopRite recycling statistics, and a photo of Costco's recycled plastic carton that prevents the breakage of 9 million eggs a year.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The massive recycling effort at the hundreds of ShopRite supermarkets in New Jersey and nearby states yields new community playgrounds.

You can learn about the many tons of plastic and cardboard ShopRites recycle in a 2-minute video on "sustainability" from the Wakefern Food Corp.

Wakefern is the retailers' cooperative that owns and operates 344 retail supermarkets (see a link to the video below).

Recycling them into new plastic bags doesn't make sense as more towns and cities ban those bags, and as alarms are raised over microplastics poisoning our food and water supply.

What are microplastics? Here are 2 paragraphs from "How to Eat Less Plastic," the June 2020 cover story in Consumer Reports magazine:

"Cracking open a brand new plastic bottle or tearing a wrapper off a sandwich releases fragments of plastic that we might end up ingesting.

"Reliable research now shows that tiny bits of plastic -- called microplastics -- are in our food, drinking water, the air we breathe, and, yes, inside our bodies."  

ShopRite statistics 

Here are some of the recycling statistics for Wakefern's Elizabeth, N. J., processing plant:

1. Recycled more than 2.6 million tons since the 1970s.
2. In 2019, recycling totals include 135,873 tons of cardboard, 4,667 tons of plastic, 428 tons of newspaper and 762 tons of office paper.
3. In 2019, the plant composted more than 11,000 tons of food waste, and donated more than 5,000 tons of food to food banks.

Can more be done?

Although ShopRite, Whole Foods, H Mart and other supermarkets in Paramus provide paper bags to shoppers who don't bring reusable ones for their purchases, Tous les Jours, the bakery concession inside the Korean supermarket on Route 17, charges 30 cents for each paper bag.

And Aldi supermarkets in New Jersey have never provided plastic or paper bags to customers, but you can purchase a reusable bag for 10 cents.

A LOT OF YOLKS: Costco Wholesale officials say cartons made from 100% recycled plastic prevent breakage, saving more than 9 million eggs a year from landfills.

Recycling at Costco

Sustainability programs at Costco Wholesale, a global retailer, also are impressive.

"In some cases, we've been able to eliminate plastic altogether," Sheri Flies, Costco vice president of global sustainability and compliance, wrote in the May 2020 Costco Connection magazine.

For example, Costco swapped plastic for paperboard in sheet-cake trays, removed plastic hangers in some clothes and replaced plastic bags with compostable ones.

"If we can't eliminate plastic, we try to use less of it, through redesign," Flies said. "We reduced our plastic packaging by 6 million pounds in 2019."

Another goal is to use recycled plastic in plastic packaging, "such as increasing the recycled content in our Kirkland Signature 16-ounce water bottles to 50% in the U.S."

When plastic makes sense

"Kirkland Signature egg cartons ... reduce food waste, also a priority for us," Flies said, adding:

"These plastic cartons prevent breakage, saving over 9 million eggs a year from landfills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"They use 100% recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which makes them 40% lighter than pulp cartons.

"These lighter weight and sturdier cartons enable our shipper to pack 50% more cartons on a truck, reducing truck trips from the farms to our locations and therefore reducing carbon emissions."

Read: How To Eat Less Plastic

Watch: ShopRite's Recycling

 and Composting Programs 

Watch: Plastic Wars from FRONTLINE