Early voting in New Jersey, which has the support of both parties, has now officially taken off.
On Saturday, 135,075 votes were cast on the first day of in-person early voting for the 2024 election, with Democrats and Republicans running about even: 38.5% of yesterday’s votes came from registered Democrats, and 37.4% were from registered Republicans; 23.5% of the first-day early votes came from unaffiliated voters. The numbers came from an analysis from Associated Press election researcher Ryan Dubicki.
These numbers eclipse first-day early vote turnout in the last three elections: 13,269 in 2021, 26,658 in 2022, and 19,192 in 2023.
In the close, nationally watched race for Congress in the 7th district between GOP Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and Democrat Sue Altman, Republicans had a 14-point turnout edge on the first day of in-person early votes on Saturday: 45%-31%. With a total of 16,925 first-day early votes, NJ-7 was the highest Saturday turnout in the state.
That’s a flip from 2022, when Democrats held an edge in the first day of early voting, with 1,062 votes cast. The Day One numbers represent a 426% increase over 2022.
Republicans cast more votes in Hunterdon (50%-28%), Morris (50%-25%), Somerset (45%-28%), Sussex (54%-23%) and Warren (56%-24%); Democrats have a 45%-30% edge in Union.
Among the specific voters who cast there in-person ballots on Saturday, 90% of the Democrats and 92% of the Republicans also voted in 2020 — a one-day electorate that was sure to vote anyway. But among unaffiliated first-day early voters, 19% had not voted in 2020, an all VBM election.
With in-person early votes, the total advance vote in New Jersey is now at 734,572, which represents an 11% statewide voter turnout so far. That number is likely closer to 12% when roughly 600,000 inactive voters are removed from the total registration.
Election officials reported receiving 10,134 vote-by-mail ballots on Saturday, with 54.7% of all VBMs sent out by county clerks already returned nine days before the general election.
Democrats have a substantial edge in the number of mail-in ballots requested, 54%-19%, and a 3-1 edge in returned VBMs.