New Jerseyans cast 1,179,978 ballots before Tuesday’s election, with 507,354 voters opting to vote in-person during the state’s early voting period, according to an analysis by Ryan Dubicki, an election researcher for the Associated Press.
The total vote also includes 663,624 returned vote-by-mail ballots. That brings statewide turnout to 18% of registered voters and 20% of active voters.
An additional 126,207 voters cast early votes on Tuesday. Early voting now makes up 43% of the advance vote.
Both parties have taken to early voting: statewide, Republicans are outpacing Democrats, 192,729 (38%) to 183,262 (36%). Democrats still have an edge on vote-by-mail ballots returned: 396,252 (60%) to 135,485 (20%).
So far, 60% of all vote-by-mail ballots have been returned; there are still 446,117 ballots sent out by county clerks that are still either in the hands of voters or en route to election officials. Statewide, Democrats have returned 66% of their VBMs; the GOP return rate is 53%.
In the 7th district congressional race between Republican incumbent Tom Kean, Jr. and Democrat Sue Altman, a total of 134,905 votes have already been cast; that brings the total voter turnout to 22% of all registered voters, 4% higher than the statewide number.
Of the total NJ-7 advance votes, 56,842 (42%) were from Democrats, and 46,990 (35%) came from Republicans. Democrats lead on returned VBMs, 38,977 (53%) to 18,928 (26%); among those who cast in-person early votes, Republicans are ahead, 28,062 (46%) to 17,865 (29%).