Murphy says he hasn’t thought about extending early primary voting

Over the nine days of early voting in November, 1,172,842 New Jerseyans cast their ballots, a resounding success for the policy after years of slow acceptance. 

But after the nine days of early voting in November, voters will have just three days of early voting before the June 10 primary in this year’s gubernatorial election. Gov. Phil Murphy told reporters Monday that he hasn’t yet thought about whether he would like to extend the number of early voting days for the primary.

More than 750,000 New Jerseyans voted by mail in the presidential election, as well.

“I am struck — and this is not surprising to me, because we sort of sense this — the vote-by-mail gap between Democratic voters and Republican voters shrunk dramatically,” Murphy said.

Murphy signed the law allowing early, in-person voting in New Jersey in 2021.

Murphy signed legislation last month to move the date of the 2025 primary election from June 3 to June 10 to avoid any conflict with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

Jewish faith and non-profit leaders called for a new election date because observant Jews will not use electronic devices, write, drive, or travel on Shavuot, which begins at sundown on June 1 and ends at 9:14 PM on June 3, the initial scheduled primary date.