Credit: (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Tuesday is primary election day in New Jersey, when voters have the chance to choose the Democratic and Republican candidates for one U.S. Senate seat, all 12 in the House and to register their support — or lack of it — for the presumptive presidential nominees. Local and county nominations are also on the ballot throughout the state.
Polls are open statewide from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can find their polling location on the sample ballot they received or at the state Division of Elections’ online polling locator.
Only registered voters can cast ballots and New Jersey has a closed primary, meaning Democrats can only vote for Democratic candidates and Republicans can only vote for GOP candidates. Unaffiliated voters can cast a ballot by declaring at the polls for one of the two major parties and then voting for that party’s candidates. People can check their registration status via the state elections website.
More than 337,000 people already voted early, most of them using mail-in ballots. People also were able to vote on machines early from last Wednesday through Sunday. The early in-person turnout remained lackluster, with some 55,000 of early votes cast in person. That’s only marginally better than the last two primaries, although the option was available for two additional days this year because of an expected larger turnout for the presidential primary.
In the last presidential primary, in 2020, almost 1.47 million people voted, roughly a quarter of all registered voters and about 40% of partisans. That’s higher than in nonpresidential primary years, when turnout is closer to 1 in 10 registered voters or 15% of Democrats and Republicans.
No ‘party line’ for Democrats
This is the first election in modern times in which some voters — Democrats — are seeing an “office-block” ballot design, rather than New Jersey’s unique “party line” ballot that groups candidates endorsed by the county party together and places others along other lines. Because a federal judge decided the party line design gives endorsed candidates an unfair advantage, he barred its use in this year’s Democratic primary in response to a lawsuit by Rep. Andy Kim (D-3rd), who is running for the Senate. Since no Republican was initially part of that lawsuit, the judge allowed the GOP ballot to continue to use the party line design.
Credit: (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)Former President Donald Trump is the only Republican on the ballot for president. Democrats have three choices: President Biden, anti-abortion candidate Terrisa Bukovinac and “uncommitted,” a choice being promoted as a way to send a message to Biden about U.S. support for Israel’s continuing military action in Gaza.
Senate and House races
The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Bob Menendez, on trial in federal court on corruption charges, has garnered most of the attention. Three Democrats and four Republicans are looking to represent their parties in the general election. New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate in 52 years so a GOP win is considered a long shot. Menendez filed nominating petitions to run as an independent and could serve as a spoiler. The deadline for independent candidates to file for the November ballot is Tuesday.
Almost all the state’s congressional districts have a primary contest for one or both major parties. There will be two openings in the House delegation — Kim’s 3rd District seat representing parts of Burlington, Mercer and Monmouth counties and the 10th District seat based in Newark that was held by Rep. Donald Payne Jr. who died in April. There are contested Democratic and Republican primaries to replace Kim. Payne died after the deadline to replace him on the primary ballot, so Democrats from his district will meet after the primary to choose a candidate for the November general election ballot. Special primary and general elections are scheduled over the next several months to decide who will serve the remainder of Payne’s term.
Anyone who has a problem voting can call one of two voter hotlines 877-NJ-VOTER (877-658-6837) or 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683).
Voters’ guide
NJ Spotlight News, in conjunction with the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, published a voters’ guide that has information on all the federal races and candidates, including the positions of candidates who answered questions on a number of key issues to help voters make an informed choice.
The NJ Spotlight News elections page includes links to stories about the races, as well as key information about voting, including how to check your voter registration and the locations of polling places and drop boxes.
NJ Spotlight News will post results in all federal races from The Associated Press after polls close at 8 p.m.
NJ Spotlight News anchor Briana Vannozzi will provide live updates on NJ PBS stations at 8 p.m. and 8:50 p.m., with full coverage and analysis beginning at 10 p.m.
