New Jersey voters have returned 424,234 mail-in ballots as of Thursday morning, according to a VoteHub analysis of county-level data — an increase of 19,899 ballots since October 22.
Democrats continue to hold a wide advantage in both the number and share of returned ballots, accounting for 266,789 of all mail-in votes, or 62.9% of the total. Registered Republicans have returned 91,863 ballots (21.7%), while unaffiliated and third-party voters have returned 65,582 (15.5%).
A total of 928,348 mail-in ballots have been sent statewide — including 530,214 to Democrats, 182,760 to Republicans, and 215,374 to other voters. Democrats hold a 57.1% share of all mailed ballots, compared with Republicans’ 19.7%.
Despite the partisan gap in total volume, the two major parties are returning their ballots at nearly identical rates: 50.32% of mailed Democratic ballots and 50.26% of mailed Republican ballots have already been returned. Unaffiliated voters have returned about 30.45% of their mailed ballots.
The pace of vote-by-mail returns has accelerated as Election Day approaches, with roughly 20,000 additional ballots received statewide in the last two days alone.
County clerks have sent more than 900,000 mail-in ballots overall. Ballots must be postmarked by 8:00 PM on Election Day, Tuesday, November 4, and received by county boards of elections within six days to be counted.
Early in-person voting is scheduled to begin later this week, giving voters a second opportunity to cast ballots before polls open statewide on Election Day.
The overall total of 424,000 returned ballots is slightly ahead of the pace seen at this point in the 2021 gubernatorial race, and well above returns during last year’s legislative elections. Early in-person voting begins this weekend, adding another option for voters who haven’t yet mailed their ballots.
Below is a county-by-county breakdown:
Atlantic: 22,625 mailed, 9,491 returned (42.0%); 60.6% Democratic, 26.2% Republican.
Bergen: 81,119 mailed, 34,738 returned (42.8%); 61.1% Democratic, 21.3% Republican.
Burlington: 54,551 mailed, 25,498 returned (46.7%); 65.0% Democratic, 22.1% Republican.
Camden: 100,151 mailed, 48,485 returned (48.4%); 69.5% Democratic, 17.6% Republican.
Cape May: 10,440 mailed, 5,708 returned (54.7%); 47.2% Democratic, 38.6% Republican.
Cumberland: 13,651 mailed, 6,481 returned (47.5%); 57.0% Democratic, 29.5% Republican.
Essex: 61,788 mailed, 23,688 returned (38.3%); 77.1% Democratic, 9.3% Republican.
Gloucester: 36,205 mailed, 18,304 returned (50.6%); 66.2% Democratic, 21.2% Republican.
Hudson: 33,712 mailed, 11,463 returned (34.0%); 78.0% Democratic, 8.6% Republican.
Hunterdon: 17,077 mailed, 8,366 returned (49.0%); 55.0% Democratic, 31.0% Republican.
Mercer: 46,447 mailed, 19,632 returned (42.2%); 68.3% Democratic, 14.5% Republican.
Middlesex: 122,884 mailed, 51,816 returned (42.2%); 64.6% Democratic, 18.4% Republican.
Monmouth: 58,053 mailed, 26,366 returned (45.4%); 56.0% Democratic, 26.1% Republican.
Morris: 55,052 mailed, 23,915 returned (43.5%); 57.6% Democratic, 27.4% Republican.
Ocean: 62,609 mailed, 28,249 returned (45.1%); 46.0% Democratic, 37.9% Republican.
Passaic: 32,509 mailed, 11,416 returned (35.1%); 63.6% Democratic, 22.2% Republican.
Salem: 5,422 mailed, 2,511 returned (46.3%); 59.5% Democratic, 27.6% Republican.
Somerset: 44,833 mailed, 19,259 returned (42.9%); 57.2% Democratic, 22.4% Republican.
Sussex: 11,284 mailed, 5,522 returned (48.9%); 51.2% Democratic, 33.7% Republican.
Union: 45,465 mailed, 18,361 returned (40.4%); 69.7% Democratic, 16.1% Republican.
Warren: 11,257 mailed, 5,066 returned (45.0%); 53.4% Democratic, 34.0% Republican.
Below are breakdowns of some legislative districts:
LD-2: 19,398 mailed, 8,464 returned (43.6%); 62.2% Democratic, 24.6% Republican.
LD-3: 25,769 mailed, 13,316 returned (51.7%); 63.8% Democratic, 22.9% Republican.
LD-4: 36,968 mailed, 19,061 returned (51.6%); 64.9% Democratic, 22.5% Republican.
LD-8: 26,772 mailed, 13,742 returned (51.3%); 60.8% Democratic, 24.9% Republican.
LD-11: 20,748 mailed, 10,049 returned (48.4%); 61.6% Democratic, 20.9% Republican.
LD-14: 35,988 mailed, 17,987 returned (50.0%); 62.1% Democratic, 20.1% Republican.
LD-16: 34,596 mailed, 15,709 returned (45.4%); 60.1% Democratic, 21.1% Republican.
LD-21: 33,486 mailed, 15,252 returned (45.5%); 57.1% Democratic, 23.6% Republican.
LD-25: 24,194 mailed, 10,897 returned (45.1%); 61.3% Democratic, 24.2% Republican.
LD-30: 19,086 mailed, 6,911 returned (36.2%); 43.2% Democratic, 39.2% Republican.
LD-36: 13,346 mailed, 5,321 returned (39.9%); 61.6% Democratic, 20.0% Republican.
LD-38: 18,817 mailed, 8,365 returned (44.5%); 60.7% Democratic, 21.1% Republican.
LD-39: 23,844 mailed, 11,273 returned (47.3%); 56.0% Democratic, 24.6% Republican.
Vote-by-mail requests represent about 15% of all registered voters statewide, and the current returns equal roughly 6.9% of the active electorate.
You can search for vote-by-mail totals by municipality on the VoteHub site. Click HERE.
