Early Voting Passes 50 Million Nationwide as New Jersey's Final Early Day Opens at 10
More than 50.5 million Americans had voted by Saturday morning and the count passed 51 million by Saturday's end - past the entire 2022 midterm early total - and New Jersey voters get one last early day, today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The early vote has set its record. More than 50.5 million Americans had cast a ballot by Saturday morning, according to the University of Florida Election Lab tally reported Saturday and read by this desk, and the count passed 51 million by the end of Saturday - already millions beyond the 45.9 million early ballots cast in the whole 2022 midterm cycle. In-person voting is driving the surge: more than 28 million people had voted early in person by Saturday, against about 20.5 million in-person ballots in the entire 2022 early period.
New Jersey is part of the record. The state had recorded 952,656 advance ballots in the figures reported on October 31 - by party registration, 58.8 percent registered Democrats, 23.1 percent registered Republicans and 18.0 percent unaffiliated or third-party voters. Those shares describe who the voters are registered as, not how any of them voted, and early totals in every state describe participation only: they are not results, and they do not by themselves predict the final turnout or the winners.
Sunday is New Jersey's last chance to vote early. County early-voting sites are open today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and after they close the remaining doors are the county clerk's in-person mail-ballot application window, which ends at 3 p.m. Monday, and Election Day itself - Tuesday, November 3, polls open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a U.S. Senate seat and all 12 of the state's U.S. House seats on the ballot.
