Seven percent of New Jerseyans have already cast their general election ballots, with about 43% of all vote-by-mail ballots sent out by county clerks already returned and 457,762 total votes already in, according to data compiled by Ryan Dubicki, an election researcher for the Associated Press.
A total of 46,483 New Jerseyans cast in-person early votes in the first two days of the nine day early voting period; 26,658 early votes were cast on Saturday and 19,825 on Sunday. At the same point in 2021 – the first general election to utilize early voting – 34,077 voters cast in-person early votes in the gubernatorial and legislative election year.
The 36.4% increase in early votes cast at in-person voting centers across the state signals a growing acceptance of the fledgling option by New Jersey’s electorate.
Democrats made up 49.5% of all early votes cast statewide, with Republicans at 30.5% and unaffiliated voters at 19.7%.
Since election officials commenced the mailing of vote-by-mail ballots five weeks ago, a total of 411,270 were returned out of around 965,000 sent out.
In the 7th district congressional race between Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) and former Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), 51,985 advance votes have been cast, including 6,140 early votes. The total advance votes are comprised of 50.3% from Democrats, 26.8% from Republicans, and 16.8% from unaffiliateds.
There have been 48,705 advance votes cast in the 3rd district, where Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) faces Republican Bob Healey, including 5,759 early votes.
NJ-5 has produced 35,880 votes in advance of the November 8 election; that total includes 4,584 ballots cast in the first two days of in-person early voting. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) faces a rematch with his 2020 opponent, Frank Pallotta.
In the 11th district, where Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) faces former Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Paul DeGroot, 42,614 votes have already been cast, including 5,270 in-person early votes.