With one week to go before Election Day, New Jerseyans cast 35,588 votes during the first three days of early voting, bringing the number of advance votes – including vote-by-mail – to 376,760, according to an analysis prepared by Ryan Dubicki, an election researcher at the Associated Press.
That brings voter turnout for next week’s midterm elections up to 5.8%.
Voters have returned 36.6% of the 932,070 vote-by-mail ballots mailed by county clerks since September 23. Nearly two-thirds of the returned VBMs statewide (65.5%) are from Democrats and 21% from Republicans.
Of the early votes cast on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, 47.6% were by Democrats, 35% by Republicans, and 17.2% from unaffiliated voters.
The Democratic advantage in two key South Jersey districts continues to grow.
In District 3, Democrats have cast 6,281 more votes than Republicans and 4,560 more votes than Republicans and unaffiliateds combined. In the 4th district, 8,342 more votes from Democrats than Republicans are already banked – and 6,331 more than GOP and unaffiliated combined.
Democrats also have edges in districts 11, 16, and 38, although not as massive as in South Jersey.