New Jersey set record numbers for early voting on Saturday, as hundreds of thousands chose not to wait two weeks to cast ballots in November’s general election.
More than 135,000 voters cast ballots at early in-person voting sites on Saturday, the first day polls were open, according to the New Jersey Division of Elections. An additional 599,000 voters have already sent in their mail-in ballots.
Saturday’s numbers exceed all early votes cast during the 2023 election, when 124,197 votes were cast during the nine-day early voting period, according to the New Jersey Department of State.
Overall voter turnout tends to be much lower in years without presidential elections. This is the first presidential election in New Jersey in which early voting is conducted.
“I was among 135,075 voters who cast our ballots yesterday,” Lt. Gov. Tahisha Way, who also serves as the Garden State’s secretary of state, said in a statement. The Office of the Secretary of State supervises the elections. “New Jersey election officials are thrilled that a record number of voters enthusiastically participated on the first day of early voting.”
The agency also said 599,905 mail-in ballots were returned from New Jersey voters. This represents more than 50% of all mail-in ballots sent to voters who requested them.
So far, 11% of registered voters have cast their ballots, 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 sites in their counties over the nine days leading up to the Nov. 5 election. Early voting ends on November 3.
Camden County saw its strongest voter turnout to date, with more than 18% of voters already making their choice. Only 7% of Hudson County voters have used early voting options so far. (See how your county fared in the map below.)
The vote was split fairly evenly along party lines, with roughly 52,000 Democrats and 50,000 Republicans voting early. About 30,000 unaffiliated voters went to the polls on Saturday.
The Garden State has 6,659,963 registered voters as of Oct. 1, according to the most recent report from the New Jersey Secretary of State. Registration closed on October 15. Complete voter registration data is not yet available.
Between the two major political parties, registered Democrats outpace Republicans in the state, by 2,528,917 to 1,611,688, according to the report. Meanwhile, there are 2,440,927 who are not registered in any party.
The long lines at polling stations on Saturday were filmed and shared on social media. Many users reported seeing lines extending outside polling locations.
“My team and I in the Elections Division, along with our partners responsible for county elections, have worked hard to educate the public about their voting options,” Way said. “We attribute a large portion of this record turnout to increased awareness of early voting opportunities.”
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Katie Kusch can be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Katie Koch.
Eric Conklin can be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com.
