Voter turnout is already at 12% of total votes cast in 2017

New Jerseyans have already cast 264,796 votes for the November 2 general election, with 29% of all vote-by-mail ballots sent out by county clerks already marked as returned.

Election officials issued 6,614 new VBM ballots on Thursday, bringing the total number of ballots requested to 911,366, according to the New Jersey Division of Elections.

That brings voter turnout so far to 4%.

New Jersey has 6,561,568 registered voters, but that tally does not include new voter registrations that came in before the October 12 deadline.

The upcoming election marks the return of in-person voting.  The 2020 election was conducted almost entirely by vote-by-mail ballots as the state sought to limit the exposure of voters to COVID-19.

In 2017, 2,198,362 ballots were cast in the general election, a statewide turnout of 38.5%.   Turnout so far is about 12% of the total votes cast in 2017.

Mail-in ballots can be sent through the U.S. Postal Service – although some election officials strongly recommend against that – and can be deposited in secure ballot drop boxes across the state.  Click HERE for a list of drop box locations.

Voters can track their own vote-by-mail ballots.  Click HERE to sign in to your Track My Ballot account or click HERE to sign up.

Nine days of early voting begins on October 23.  Click HERE for a list of early voting locations.