36% of all mail-in ballots have been returned

The number of New Jerseyans who have returned their vote-by-mail ballots is now up to 36%, with 339,622 votes already cast for the November 2 general election.

That brings the total statewide turnout so far to 5.2%, but 15.4% of all votes cast in the 2017 gubernatorial election.

According to an analysis by The Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University, 65% of all returned VBM ballots so far have come from Democrats, and 20% from Republicans.  Both parties are returning mail-in ballots at about the same rate, while unaffiliated voters are sending their VBM ballots back at about half the return rate.

County clerks have mailed a total of 935,176, with 5,025 new ballots mailed on Wednesday.

The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot for the upcoming election is October 26, with an extra three days for military and overseas VBM applications by electronic means.

New Jersey has 6,561,568 registered voters, but that tally does not include new voter registrations that came in before the October 12 deadline.

Early voting in New Jersey starts on October 23 and extends through October 31.

Mail-in ballots can be sent through the U.S. Postal Service – although some election officials strongly recommend against that – and can be deposited in secure ballot drop boxes across the state.  Click HERE for a list of drop box locations.

Voters can track their own vote-by-mail ballots.  Click HERE to sign in to your Track My Ballot account or click HERE to sign up.

Nine days of early voting begins on October 23.  Click HERE for a list of early voting locations.