PARSIPPANY — New Jersey cannot allow an all-mail-in General Election in November and has to begin preparing now to recreate the infrastructure that supports in-person voting, said Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce.

She joins other Republicans including Sen. Mike Testa in calling for in-person voting but says the GOP has to go further and lay out a blueprint for in-person voting, focusing on recruiting new people to work the polls on Election Day.

“We have seen that mail-in balloting is ripe for abuse, mistakes, voter fraud and corruption in New Jersey,” said DeCroce, citing corruption allegations by the state Attorney General in Paterson’s May 12 city council election and disputed and uncounted mail-in ballots in the July 7 Primary Election.

“New Jersey cannot conduct a proper Presidential Election that will have the confidence of the voters if the state insists on banning voters from the polling booth,” added DeCroce. “Once we lose the trust of the people in our democratic election process, we lose democracy.”

NEW POLL WORKERS
But rather than pushing ahead blindly to allow individuals to vote at their regular polling district, the state is going to have to prepare poll workers, said DeCroce, who served as an Election Officer in a large municipality for 21years.

“The nuts and bolts of the election process include the poll workers who spend a lot of time at polling stations informing voters and checking on their voting eligibility,” said DeCroce.

Traditionally, most of the poll workers in the state have been elderly people who are retired and have time to spend at the polling stations on Election Day. In the wake of the coronavirus, DeCroce says, many of those older poll workers will not want to volunteer, so the state needs to begin now to attract and train new, younger poll workers.

The assemblywoman said the state should begin reaching out to college students throughout the state to recruit them to work the polls on November 3. Poll workers are paid $200 a day for their work. Younger people are much less susceptible to coronavirus’s most virulent effects.

“With colleges re-opening for the fall semester with a combination of in-person and virtual study programs, the state has an opportunity to reach out to students and recruit them to be poll workers,” said DeCroce.

The students, she said, can be taught the mechanics of being a poll worker either in-person on college campuses or by virtual instruction over the internet and become certified to work the polls. Training will take about two hours.

With proper safety safeguards in place at a polling station in place as they are at supermarkets, liquor stores and restaurants in-person voting can be as safe or safer than many activities people engage in currently, said the Assemblywoman.

“I don’t see how waiting on a relatively short line at a polling booth is more dangerous than waiting on a long line at a motor vehicle center or the supermarket,” said DeCroce.

“The important thing about the November election is to make sure we get it right and not use the coronavirus as an excuse to open up the voting process to the corruption and abuse that we have suffered from the universal mail-in process,” said DeCroce.

PARSIPPANY — Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) launched a second survey for small businesses in the 11th District to collect feedback on the challenges continuing to face the small business community due to COVID-19 and as they reopen.

“New Jersey has made significant strides in our work to flatten the curve and stem the spread of COVID-19 in our state, but our small businesses are still suffering under the weight of this pandemic,” said Representative Sherrill. “I fought hard for specific, important changes to the PPP and EIDL program after hearing directly from small businesses about their experiences, and I know there is more work to be done. These surveys help me advocate for the critical needs of our New Jersey small business community during this crisis.”

On April 29, 2020, Representative Sherrill released her first small business survey for the 11th Congressional District to gather data on small business programs. More than 340 small business owners from 50 towns in the 11th District responded to the survey and shared their experiences with the PPP and EIDL programs, including the status of their applications, unanswered questions, recommended changes, and challenges they face in preparing to reopen.

Representative Sherrill outlined actions to improve the PPP and EIDL programs for the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration built upon the concerns and recommendations from New Jersey small business owners. Many of the proposals were included in the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act that Representative Sherrill co-sponsored and the President signed into law.

A link to the survey can be found by clicking here.

PARSIPPANY — Parsippany-Troy Hills Public Library is offering a free workshop on the ReferenceUSA database, conducted by company representative Bill Carlson. RefUSA is a powerful database containing information on millions of businesses and consumers and can be searched in many ways.

The first webinar in conjunction with Long Hill Township Library is titled “Job Seekers and Career-Changers” and will be held on July 14 at 7:00 p.m. (for sixty minutes). Learn how to use the database to look for job postings, identify companies that interest you, find names of key executives, and prepare yourself for effective interviews. Click here to join the meeting. (Password: 611519).

“Intro for Businesses, including Retail and Business” will be held on July 16 at 7:00 p.m. (for 90 minutes) One of the most popular databases in use by business patrons, ReferenceUSA is a powerful yet simple to use a database containing information on literally every business and adult consumer in the U.S. The business database includes extensive information on 56 million current businesses and nearly 230 million historical businesses. There is also consumer data on 316+ million individuals, as well as sections on new businesses, the medical industry, and even a segment for job postings. Searches may be conducted based on the type of business, location, revenues, and many other combinations of data. ReferenceUSA is most useful for researching potential business customers, competitors, and local and regional business distributions. Click here to register.

“Business Expansion” Join professional ReferenceUSA trainer Bill Carlson as he showcases a robust business development tool available to all NJ residents and businesses courtesy of public libraries. This training session will focus on how Reference USA can be used by NJ small businesses attempting to expand and grow. Tuesday, July 21, 2020 –
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Click here to register.

“Fundraising” Learn to use ReferenceUSA to increase your fundraising impact, engagement and reach. Learn search methods to identify businesses and/or consumers who may be just the right audience at the right time to donate or support your organization. You will learn to search by the audience in any geography and even produce maps of your results or simply download the data for later use. Thursday, July 23, 2020 – 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Click here to register.

Reference USA and its databases are provided by the New Jersey State Library.

MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Surrogate’s Office is proud to announce that it is moving forward with a plan to implement fully remote operations by the fall of this year.

Residents seeking probate services in the Surrogate’s Court will be able to complete the probate process from the comfort of their own homes or offices – a valuable tool in this era of COVID-19.

Starting in November, the public will have the option to complete the entire probate online without visiting the county government and court complex in Morristown.

Historically, the probate process usually has involved making an appointment and traveling to Morristown to complete the probate forms in the Surrogate’s office with the help of a probate clerk.

To improve that process, Morris County Surrogate Heather Darling has directed an IT vendor to move ahead with a software modification to allow for remote probate services.

“As an attorney practicing in the Surrogate’s Court, it was apparent to me that a significant segment of the clients this office serves is subject to mobility issues of varying degrees,’’ said Surrogate Darling. “It has been my plan since the day I was elected last year to implement this significant convenience for the residents of Morris County, and now we have found a way to bring it to fruition without any additional expense’’ she added.

Residents always have the right to come to Probate Court. However, this option will create efficiencies that previously did not exist.

Starting in the fall, clients and/or their attorneys will be able to fill in the necessary information online and submit it digitally to the County Surrogate’s Office for a quick review.

If there are issues with form selection or other matters, probate clerks will be available by phone to quickly make modifications. Final documents can immediately be executed at home and returned via regular mail or through an attorney or courier.

Once the documents, including the original Will and Certified Death Certificate, are received with payment, appropriate certificates will be issued from the Surrogate’s Court completing the process.

“This will provide a tremendous benefit to those using our office – a service that is rapidly being created out of necessity caused by Covid-19,” said Deputy Surrogate Christopher Luongo.

Since Covid-19 related building closures, the Surrogate’s Office has been operating by phone and email. In the event of a fall resurgence of the virus, this new online service will enable the Surrogate’s Office to provide full, efficient, and uninterrupted service to Morris County residents.

Surrogates in other counties have expressed an interest in the system being designed in Morris County and may follow the lead by purchasing the program being designed to Darling’s specifications.

PARSIPPANY — It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a major toll on people all around the world, and among those who are greatly affected are people who are at risk of hunger. Food distribution teams have been working nonstop in order to serve those who do not have access to an adequate amount of food.

However, canceled food drives and decreasing numbers of grocery and retail supply sources have left food pantries struggling to provide basic necessities to people in need. With numerous school closures, increasing job disruptions, and major health risks, a growing number of individuals cannot afford essentials and are in desperate need of aid.

In response to these difficult circumstances, the students and student volunteers of Sanatan Mandir Sunday School set up a Virtual Food Drive to help those severely impacted by the virus. This food drive was led by student volunteers Suchit Bapatla, Abhilasha Salunia, and Shreya Shah, and it allowed people to help the cause by making a generous donation to the Parsippany Food Pantry, which contributed to the food pantry’s efforts to end hunger.

Students and student volunteers attending this school also put together a video that showcased creative projects that they were proud of, displayed their talents, and expressed their gratitude towards all coronavirus helpers in addition to explaining the importance of helping the less fortunate and supporting others during these hard times. The video was published on the Sanatan Mandir School Facebook page.

A special thanks to the Sanatan Mandir family and supporters for their gracious donations with which we were able to raise $2,500 for the food pantry. Additionally, thank you the Parsippany Food Pantry for not only allowing us to help families in desperate need of food and supplies but also giving us the opportunity to give back to our community for everything it has done for us.