More than 165,000 vote-by-mail ballots have been returned in New Jersey with a month and a day before the general election.
An analysis from Associated Press elections research Ryan Dubicki found that about 65% of those ballots belong to registered Democrats. 108,182 registered Democrats have now returned ballots, more than the 34,508 registered Republicans and 22,737 unaffiliated voters.
Democrats, who are more likely to vote early and have more registered voters in the state, generally outnumber Republican mail votes.
19.5% of Democrats have returned their ballots, slightly widening the gap on the 18.2% of Republicans who have submitted their picks. Meanwhile, just 9.3% of unaffiliated voters have sent their votes in.
Cumberland County, which has returned 32.2% of its requested vote-by-mail ballots, is so far the most responsive county in the state in terms of ballots returned.
In the Garden State’s tight 7th district, the situation remains largely static. Republican return rates are still slightly higher than Democrats — 18.6% to 18.4% — but Democratic ballots more than double total GOP returns, 9,332 to 4,409.
Dubicki included data from 2022, as well: At this point in 2022, Republicans outperformed Democrats in return rate, 12.65% to 11.12%.