By Wedneseday, ballots had gone out to 252 of the county's 325 registered absentee voters, he said.
In Camden County, ballots were mailed to the county's 690 absentee voters on Tuesday - exactly one week before the election. "We just received them (on Monday), so we were cutting it close," said Anne-Marie Manko, who works in the election division of the Camden County Clerk's Office.
Under state law, absentee ballots must be returned to county election offices by the time the polls close on Election Day. The polls close Tuesday at 9 p.m.
The confusion and commotion over the late ballots can be traced to Trenton, Hoffman said.
A month ago, many districts did not know how much state aid they would receive under the new Quality Education Act. The greater a district's state aid, the less money voters will be asked to fork over in taxes.
The state Department of Education did not release its school aid figures for 1991-92 until March 14, department spokesman Richard Vesspucci said. That, in turn, caused a delay in printing the ballots. "The state did not certify the (aid) amounts, and that's what's holding the ballots up," Hoffman said.
As a result, Hoffman said, some voters are bound to be disenfranchised.
Vincent Michael Tarantino Jr. could be among the unlucky few. The son of Vincent Tarantino, Monroe Township's assistant superintendent of schools, is stationed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and is unlikely to receive his ballot in time to vote this spring.
"I feel he has a right to vote," the elder Tarantino said. "He's a citizen of Monroe, and he should have a right to vote for a school board candidate. He's not being given that opportunity."
As a board administrator, Tarantino said he was familiar with the problems state delays could cause. "I can understand the situation that they (county election officials) are in," he said. "I'm not blaming anyone, but the way things look now, my son won't be able to vote."
That same fate is likely for the son of school board member Fred Straub, who is stationed with the military in Germany, Tarantino said. "If this (delay) ever happens again, they should take into consideration young men and women in the military," he said.
"I can't help it," Hoffman responded when asked about the fate of military voters. "The problem is, we don't have ballots."
