Day 1 of early voting in N.J. is light

Just 7,523 New Jersey voters cast their ballots on Friday, the first day of early voting for New Jersey’s June 7 primary election.

The number represents less than one percent of the total number of registered Democrats and Republicans in the state.  But the number is also 40% of the 19,192 ballots cast on the first day of early voting in the November 2021 general election.  Last year, primary election turnout was roughly one-quarter of the votes cast in the general.

The partisan breakdown was 4,003 Democrats and 3,486 Republicans, according to an analysis by the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

The most early votes were cast in the 4th district, where 829 Republicans and 236 Democrats voted on Friday.

Others:

NJ-1: 391 early votes; 261 Demcorats and 130 Republicans
NJ-2: 769 early votes; 323 Democrats and 446 Republicans
NJ-3: 797 early votes; 400 Democrats and 363 Republicans
NJ-5: 468 early votes; 240 Democrats and 228 Republicans
NJ-6: 610 early votes; 316 Democrats and 295 Republicans
NJ-7: 967 early votes; 449 Democrats and 518 Republicans
NJ-8: 495 early votes; 455 Democrats and 40 Republicans
NJ-9: 244 early votes; 162 Democrats and 82 Republicans
NJ-10: 475 early votes: 420 Democrats and 55 Republicans
NJ-11: 679 early votes; 351 Democrats and 328 Republicans
NJ-12: 563 early votes; 390 Democrats and 173 Republicans

Monmouth County (1,043) leads the state in early voting, followed by Ocean (794), Hudson (544), and Morris (523).  Just 27 voters in Salem cast their ballots on Friday.

Early voting centers in every county were open on Friday from 10 AM to 8 PM, with the same hours today.  Early voting concludes on Sunday, when the polls will be open from 10 AM to 6 PM.

New Jersey launched early voting for the 2021 general election.  The new law provides for nine days of early voting for general elections and three days for primaries.  Municipalities holding May non-partisan local elections and June runoffs have the option of opening early voting centers.