Half of vote-by-mail ballots returned in 8th district

More than half of the vote-by-mail ballots in the 8th district have been sent back to elections officials, with Democratic returned ballots holding a narrow three-point lead.

Democrats make up 44.2% of the 9,081 VBMs already cast, with Republicans comprising 41.4%.

There are still 8,874 outstanding ballots that have not been returned in a close race between Republican Assemblyman Ryan Peters (R-Hainesport) and his running mate, former Burlington County Sheriff Jean Stanfield, and Democratic challengers Gina LaPlaca and Mark Natale.

Of the ballots potentially still sitting in the homes of voters, 36.8% of them belong to Democrats, 28.4% to Republicans, and 34.2% to Unaffiliated voters.

The 8th district has 6,856 more Democrats than Republicans, 32%-28%, with 49% of the voters unaffiliated with any political party.