Letters sent out to explain a new law that automatically signs up some voters for vote-by-mail ballots are causing confusion across New Jersey.

Some voters say they don't understand how they were signed up for vote-by-mail ballots, while others say the messages county clerks sent out may end up discouraging people from voting.

"With all of the accusations of voter suppression, we should be making it easier not harder," said Jane Kleinman, a Red Bank voter who received one of the letters.

"It's creating confusion rather than clearing up confusion."

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But part of the problem, Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon said, is a lack of guidance from state officials on how to enact the new law.

"There is nothing in the law that explains what to do," Giordano Hanlon said. "There are so many different scenarios that are taking place with no guidance."

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Part of the new law, signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on Aug. 10, automatically directs vote-by-mail ballots to voters if that's how they cast their ballots in the 2016 election.

These voters will continue to get ballots by mail for every election unless they tell their respective county clerks in writing that they don't want one. Several counties gave voters until Friday to opt out.

People who get vote-by-mail ballots but still show up at their polling places won't be able to cast ballots on voting machines on Election Day. Instead, they'll be given provisional ballots if they show up at polls.

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County clerks were required to send letters to those who voted by mail in 2016, but the details in those letters are raising questions for some.

Giordano Hanlon said the confusion came in because the new law left county clerks with a lot of work to do before Sept. 22 when the first round of vote-by-mail ballots have to be sent to voters.

She said the New Jersey Secretary of State's office, which did not return calls for comment, was hesitant to give guidance on questions that weren't spelled out in the law.

That left counties to interpret the law for themselves, including how to word letters to voters.

Letters from Monmouth and Essex county clerks told voters their names won't be in poll books — the ledgers used to keep track of those who have voted — if they don't opt out of the vote-by-mail system, wording that some have said could disenfranchise voters.

The letter Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella sent to previous vote-by-mail recipients says voters who don't opt out will be limited to voting by mail or provisional ballot at the polling place.

New Jersey Division of Election officials have since sent memos to county clerks clarifying that voters names will be in the poll books, but with a notation that they were mailed a ballot, a process that has been in place for past elections.

"Governor Murphy believes that no voter should be disenfranchised. Expanded vote by mail is a critical step that will help ensure that all eligible voters are able to participate in the democratic process," deputy press secretary Alyana Alfaro wrote in a statement.

Hanlon has also sent out emails and social media posts to Monmouth County voters to clarify they can vote on provisional ballots at polling sites on Election Day if they got a vote-by-mail ballot.

Hanlon said her office is also trying to be flexible with voters who don't want to vote by mail but may not be able to get the written confirmation to her office by Sept. 14. The change impacts about 21,000 voters in Monmouth County alone.

Likewise, Morris County Deputy Clerk John Wojtaszek said cards were mailed out last week to about 20,000 people who used mail-in ballots in 2016, telling them to notify the clerk's office in writing by Sept. 14 if they don't want a mail-in ballot this year.

The new law didn't provide hard guidance for an opt-out deadline, Wojtaszek said. But he said the office will be flexible and accept opt-out decisions until Sept. 22, the deadline for county clerks to send mail-in ballots to previous users.

"A nightmare" of the new law, Wojtaszek said, is that envelopes the office has in stock for mail-in ballots say they must be delivered to the Board of Elections by 8 pm Election night.

The law was changed to allow the mail-in ballots received within 48 hours of Election Day to be counted. The Morris County Clerk's Office has spent at least $11,000 on new envelopes, he said.

Susanne Cervenka: @scervenka; 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com