A sample ballot is not a ballot. If you received a sample ballot at your home with someone else’s name on it, perhaps it was meant for a former resident. You cannot mail-in a sample ballot or have it cast. A mail-in, aka absentee ballot, has to be applied for and approved by the County Clerk. Before an election, actual ballots come to applicants in secure envelopes and must be returned to the Clerk or Board of Elections in the envelope provided. Your right to vote by a mail-in ballot is safe. In NJ, an actual ballot only gets mailed to you if you applied for it.