Can I Vote Today in New Jersey? No — Early Voting Ended Sunday, and the Next In-Person Vote Is Tuesday at 6 A.M. at Your Assigned Polling Place
It is the question New Jersey voters are searching this morning, and the answer is a calendar fact: the nine-day early voting period ran October 24 through November 1. Monday is a gap day for in-person voting — but a mail ballot in hand can still go into a drop box today.
Can I vote today in New Jersey? With Election Day one day away, it is the question voters across the state are typing into search engines on Monday morning — 'voting near me' sits fifth on this morning's Google Trends US snapshot and 'what time do polls open on election day' sixth — and the honest answer is no, not in person. In-person early voting in New Jersey ended on Sunday, November 1, according to the New Jersey Division of Elections, as reported by NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network in an explainer published Monday and read in full by this desk. New Jersey's nine-day early voting period ran from October 24 through November 1, and regular in-person voting is not open on Monday, November 2.
What opens next is Election Day itself. Polls in New Jersey open at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, November 3 and remain open until 8 p.m., and on Election Day voters cast their ballots at their assigned polling locations — not at the county early-voting sites used during the nine-day period, which may be different buildings. A voter's assigned place is named on the sample ballot mailed to their home, and it is the location that controls on Tuesday.
Monday is not, however, a dead day for every kind of ballot. Voters who already hold a mail-in ballot can place it in a secure ballot drop box in their county, or deliver it to their county Board of Elections office, by 8 p.m. on Tuesday — and a drop box accepts a ballot today, during the in-person gap, around the clock. So the Monday answer splits cleanly in two: a voter waiting to vote in person waits until 6 a.m. Tuesday at their assigned polling place; a voter already holding a paper ballot does not have to wait at all.
