Can I Register to Vote on Election Day in New Jersey? No — New Jersey Has No Same-Day Registration, and the Deadline Was October 13
Twenty-one states let voters register at the polls. New Jersey is not one of them: registration closed 21 days before the election, on October 13 — so Tuesday's vote belongs to voters already on the rolls.
It is one of the last questions New Jersey residents ask before every election, and the answer is no: New Jersey does not offer registration on Election Day. The state's voter registration deadline is 21 days before the election — for this general election, Tuesday, October 13 — and same-day registration is not available during early voting either, according to the New Jersey Division of Elections dates carried in the state's voting guides.
That sets New Jersey apart from much of the country this year. Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., allow voters to register on Election Day for the midterms, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures' reporting; New Jersey is listed among the states that do not permit it. A New Jersey resident who missed the October 13 deadline cannot cast a regular ballot on Tuesday, however long they have lived in their county.
For voters who are registered, nothing about Tuesday changes: polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at assigned polling places, and mail-in ballots can still be returned to a county Board of Elections office or a secure drop box by 8 p.m. And for residents who missed this election, registration for the next one is open now — online through the state portal, by mail, or in person — with the same 21-day rule applying to every future Election Day.
