Nearly 400,000 votes already cast in New Jersey

New Jerseyans have already cast 398,314 votes in the 2023 midterm elections – 6.1% of all registered votes in the state – according to an analysis by Associated Press election researcher Ryan Dubicki.

In the first four days of a nine-day in-person early voting period, a total of 45,972 cast their ballots statewide.

Nearly four in ten (38%) of the 926,497 vote-by-mail ballots mailed by county clerks since September 23 have already been marked as returned to election officials.

While both parties have sent back their VBMs at a relatively equal pace, 57% of all mail-in ballot requests have come from Democrats and 19% from Republicans.  Almost two-thirds of all returned VBMs (63.5%) statewide are from Democrats and 21.1% from Republicans.

Democrats have a clear edge in all but one of the most closely-watched legislative races in the state:

District 2: 39.2% of all VBMs have been returned; 67.8% from Democrats and 40.1% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 3,346 more advance votes than Republicans.

District 3: 52.4 of all VBMs have been returned; 67.4% from Democrats and 33.7% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 6,475 more advance votes than Republicans.

District 4: 48.5% of all VBMs have been returned; 67.8% from Democrats and 40.1% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 8,642 more advance votes than Republicans.

District 8: 45.4% of all VBMs have been returned; 62.9% from Democrats and 36.2% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 4,246 more advance votes than Republicans.

District 11: 46.2% of all VBMs have been returned; 65.5% from Democrats and 35.7% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 5,000 more advance votes than Republicans.

District 14: 45.2% of all VBMs have been returned; 65.1% from Democrats and 32.4% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 7,321 more advance votes than Republicans.

District 16: 39.9% of all VBMs have been returned; 63% from Democrats and 26.9% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 6,657 more advance votes than Republicans.

District 30: 38.7% of all VBMs have been returned; 35.6% from Democrats and 54.7% from Republicans; Republicans have cast 1,128 more advance votes than Democrats; 5,013 of the advance votes in the 30th come from Lakewood and 3,655 from the Monmouth County municipalities.

District 38: 40.5% of all VBMs have been returned; 65.4% from Democrats and 31.4% from Republicans; Democrats have cast 3,804 more advance votes than Republicans.

The most in-person early votes are in the 33rd district, where 2,675 ballots were at seven early voting centers in Union City, three in West New York, and one in Guttenberg.  State Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Union City), who faces no Republican opponent – just Socialist Workers Party candidate Joanne Kuniansky – has made a major push to send voters to the polls early.  In a mailer advocating early voting, Stack said: “If you don’t vote, I cannot produce for our community… Take 5 minutes to vote early for 4 years of hard work.”

In the 6th district, where Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D-Voorhees) is seeking his 14th term in the legislature, 23,079 vote-by-mail ballots have been returned – the most in the state.

Camden County has produced 46,642 advance votes, 381 more than Middlesex.

These numbers are through Tuesday.