Credit: (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)Tuesday is Election Day in New Jersey, with state Senate seats atop the ballot. While most legislative seats are unopposed, there are some hard-fought contests throughout the state, and local and county nominations are up for grabs, as well.
Polls across the state open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. for in-person voting. Anyone with a mail-in ballot must get it postmarked Tuesday, June 6, or put it in one of the designated drop boxes before polls close.
Close to 210,000 people had already voted by mail as of Friday, a return rate of about 30% of those who got ballots. That’s nearly as many as used mail-in ballots in the 2021 primary, when lawmakers and the governor’s race topped balloting.
Not getting out the vote
New Jersey’s non-federal election primaries have notoriously low turnouts — about 13% of registered Democrats and Republicans voted in 2011, the last time the state Senate was the marquee race. Unaffiliated registered voters can vote by declaring for one of the parties at a polling location but very few do. More than 6.5 million New Jersey residents are registered to vote, about 2.5 million as Democrats, 1.5 million as Republicans and nearly all the rest are not affiliated with either major party.
Credit: (Colleen O'Dea/NJ Spotlight News)An unknown number of people also cast ballots in person at some 140 early voting sites that were open around the state Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Fewer than 21,000 people took advantage of early machine voting during last year’s congressional election, the state’s first primary offering that option.
A total of 240 nominations for Democratic and Republican candidates for Senate and Assembly seats are being decided in this election. The winners of the party contests will face one another, and any independent candidates who file by 4 p.m. Tuesday, in the November general election. All 40 seats in the Senate and 80 in the Assembly are in play in this first election following last year’s redrawing of district boundary lines to account for population changes found during the 2020 census. Democrats currently control the Senate and Assembly and have a good chance of retaining that control, although the GOP sees opportunities to pick up one or more seats in several districts.
Open slots open way to November ballot
Of all the possible slots on the November ballot, only 26 — 10 for Senate and 16 for Assembly, are being contested. These are in 13 of the state’s 40 districts. Another 15 had no filers, 13 on the Republican side and two Democratic spots. A write-in candidate for any of those open slots who gets at least 100 votes can become the nominee and be placed on the November ballot.
While many voters forgo paying attention to the primaries, these are important because in most districts across the state, the winner of the primary almost always wins the general election. That’s due to the way districts are drawn, favoring one party or the other.
Early in-person voting starts Friday and continues through Sunday
Most of the sparks are flying in the Republican Party: in the 3rd and 4th districts in the southwest, and the 24th and 26th in the northwest.
Arguably the most consequential race is on the Democratic side in the 27th District covering parts of Essex and Passaic counties. There, Sen. Richard Codey, a former governor, and his ticket are facing Sen. Nia Gill, who was moved from her neighboring 34th District into the 27th, and one running mate. One of these incumbents is going to lose, and Codey seems to have an edge, with a larger campaign war chest and the preferential “party line” on the ballot in both counties.
For comprehensive election coverage, including information on candidates, voter registration, polling places and key dates, go to our NJ Decides 2023 elections page. Live election night results will be posted on the NJ Spotlight News homepage.
