With 33 days until Election Day, almost 140,000 New Jerseyans have cast their ballot by mail, according to an analysis by Associated Press elections researcher Ryan Dubicki.
Democrats represent a majority of the returned mail ballots — 91,459 registered Democrats have sent in their votes, accounting for about 65% of the total. Registered Republicans submitted 28,948 (21%) and unaffiliated voters have sent in 18,828 (13%).
About 14% of vote-by-mail ballots have so far been returned. 16.6% of Democrats and 15.4% of Republicans have mailed back their ballots. That rate drops to 7.8% for unaffiliated voters.
Democrats were much more likely to vote by mail in 2020 and 2022. That pattern — combined with a 900,000 registered-voter advantage for Democrats in the Garden State — means Democrats in New Jersey have requested about 364,000 more mail ballots than Republicans so far.
Dubicki notes that the Democratic return numbers are strong when compared to 2022. The researcher wrote that at this point in 2022, return rates were 8.9% for Democrats, 10.5% for Republicans, and 7.9% for unaffiliated voters.
In New Jersey’s tightly contested 7th district, Democrats have sent in about twice as many ballots than Republicans — 7,568 to 3,572 — but the 15.2% GOP return rate is slightly higher than the Democrats’ 15.0% return rate.