N.J. sees record 135k ballots cast on first day of early voting as November election looms

New Jersey set early voting records on Saturday as hundreds of thousands chose to not wait two weeks to cast their ballots in the November general election.
More than 135,000 voters cast their ballots at early, in-person voting locations on Saturday, the first day the polls were open, according to the New Jersey Division of Elections. An additional 599,000 voters have already mailed back their mail-in ballots.
Saturday’s numbers eclipse all early votes cast during the 2023 election, when 124,197 ballots were cast over early voting‘s nine-day period, according to the New Jersey Department of State.
Overall voter turnout tends to be much lower in years without presidential elections. This is New Jersey’s first presidential election with early voting.
“I was among the 135,075 voters who cast our ballots yesterday,” Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who also serves as the Garden State’s secretary of state, said in a statement. The secretary of state’s office oversees elections. “New Jersey election officials are thrilled that a record-breaking number of voters enthusiastically participated on the first day of early voting.”
The agency also said 599,905 mail-in ballots from New Jersey voters have been returned. That’s more than 50% of all mail-in ballots that were sent out to voters who requested them.
So far, 11% of registered voters have cast their ballot, either by mail or early, in-person voting. That’s the same percentage of voters who used early or mail-in voting during the entire 2022 election. Voters can visit designated polling locations in their counties over nine days ahead of the Nov. 5 election. The opportunity for early voting ends Nov. 3.
Camden County has seen the strongest voter turnout so far, with more than 18% of voters already making their choice. Just 7% of voters in Hudson County have used early voting options so far. (See how your county has fared in the map below.)
Voting has been split fairly evenly down party lines, with roughly 52,000 Democrats and 50,000 Republicans voting early. About 30,000 unregistered voters headed to the polls on Saturday.
The Garden State has 6,659,963 registered voters as of Oct. 1, according to the latest report from the New Jersey Department of State. Registration closed on Oct. 15. Complete voter registration data is not yet available.
Between both major political parties, registered Democrats outweigh Republicans in the state, 2,528,917 to 1,611,688, according to the report. Meanwhile, 2,440,927 aren’t registered with a party.
Long lines at polling places Saturday were photographed and shared across social media. Many users reported seeing lines spilling outside of the polling locations.
“My team at the Division of Elections and I, together with our county election official partners, worked hard to educate the public about their voting options,” Way said. “We attribute a significant portion of this record turnout to the heightened awareness of early voting opportunities.”
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Katie Kausch may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.
Eric Conklin may be reached at [email protected].