With four weeks to go before Election Day, 90,386 voters in New Jersey have already cast their general election ballots, according to an analysis by Ryan Dubicki, an Associated Press election researcher.
That represents a 9.2% return rate of the 980,614 vote-by-mail ballots sent out by county clerks over the last two weeks.
Democrats have returned 59,687 ballots, representing 66% of all returned ballots; Republicans sent back 18,392 (20%). The Democratic return rate is 11%, and the GOP return rate is 10%.
In New Jersey, Democrats enjoy a significant advantage, with a voter registration advantage of 917,229 over Republicans. That results in more Democrats requesting VBM ballots, a 56%-19% over the GOP. In total, 21.7% of Democrats have requested mail-in ballots, while the Republican number is 11.5%.
In New Jersey’s battleground 7th district, 8,032 vote-by-mail ballots have been returned, roughly 8% of those mailed. Of the returned ballots, 57.5% come from Democrats and 27.8% from Republicans; GOP voters are returning VBMs at a slightly higher rate: 9.6% to 9.2%.