Slow Start at Borough Polls

Voters were scarce in Chatham Borough as polls opened.

Poll workers at Milton Avenue School said they had three voters come in between 6 and 7 a.m. Tuesday. The Chatham United Methodist Church had the same number of voters in the first 90 minutes of voting. The polls at ECLC had had six voters, three of them poll workers.

Turnout, Borough Clerk Susan M. Caljean said, was "extremely low" so far Tuesday.

"Hopefully things will pick up today," she said.

Barbara Hall, a former borough mayor who volunteered as a poll worker Tuesday, said she thought there was an attitude of apathy among voters this year. "Primary voting has always been light, but this one I think is so confusing for people," she said.

Confusing, she said, because of the new redistricting, which moved Chatham Borough from the 26th district to the 21st, which spans throughout Union, Somerset and Morris Counties. It includes nearby communities such as Summit, Berkeley Heights and New Providence, but keeps the borough separate from the township and Madison.

Former state Sen. Leanna Brown, a borough resident, said the redistricting did not serve the best interest of Chatham Borough. "The interests of the incumbents were taken into consideration, and I think what was not taken into consideration was the average voter," she said.

Caljean recently started a Twitter account for Chatham Borough. She said she would tweet Tuesday morning asking residents to go vote.

Check back throughout Election Day for continuing coverage of the primary election in Chatham Township and Chatham Borough. For a complete list of the candidates and polling places, check out