More than 183k New Jerseyans have voted in the primary

With a little more than three weeks until Election Day, more than 183,000 New Jerseyans have voted by mail in the primary, according to Associated Press elections researcher Ryan Dubicki. 

More than 689,000 New Jerseyans have so far requested to vote in the primary by mail, and about 26.6% of those have returned their ballots.

Absentee voters are predominantly Democrats, the bloc more likely to use mail-in voting. More than 136,000 Democrats have returned absentee ballots, nearly triple the approximately 47,000 Republicans who have submitted ballots so far. Return rates are similar for Democrats and Republicans.

Camden still leads the state’s 21 counties in submitted ballots: Camden County residents have returned more than 26,000 ballots, 21,099 of which belong to Democrats.

In an election without the county organization line, it’s unclear how much of an effect party endorsements will have on the results. But Dubicki noted that counties whose parties endorsed Rep. Mikie Sherrill account for 49% of the mail-in vote so far, compared to 33% for former State Senate President Steve Sweeney and 9% for Rep. Josh Gottheimer. (The other counties did not make a singular endorsement.)

South Jersey counties still have a higher return rate than most other counties in the state, but that advantage is winnowing. More than 17,000 Democrats in Middlesex County, for example, have now submitted ballots.

County election officials are not required to provide immediate updates on absentee voting totals, so the data may not be fully up-to-date.