NJ election results 2023: Live updates on Election Day, voting questions answered
Happy Election Day! New Jersey voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7 to decide all 40 seats in the state Senate, all 80 seats in the state Assembly, and thousands of local posts and school board contests across the Garden State.
Follow along for live coverage of the 2023 elections, with updates from our reporters at the polls, open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Don’t forget to check back at NorthJersey.com after polls close Tuesday night to see results for your local races.
Some races could take days to call: Elections officials may count vote-by-mail ballots received by Nov. 13, as long as they are postmarked by 8 p.m. Election Day.
Don't know if you're registered to vote? Check here.
More: Our guide to New Jersey's 2023 elections for Legislature, local offices and school boards
More: Why NJ election realities spell danger for GOP and Democrats alike | Stile
4:00 p.m. Wayne voters weigh in on future of ambulance corps
Debra Tahan combined aerobic exercise and civic responsibility Tuesday, cycling more than a mile from her home on Brandywine Road to cast her vote in the gymnasium of Preakness School.
Tahan said she hopes that her ballot choices at the Hamburg Turnpike polling place will help to rescue the volunteer First Aid Squad from possible privatization.
The future of the ambulance corps emerged this fall as an issue in the 5th Ward race between Councilwoman Francine Ritter, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, Matthew Cavallo, the commissioner of first aid and safety.
That race is among six municipal elections on the local ballot.
“I love the squad,” said Tahan, who serves as its chaplain. “I love what we do, and what we are to this community. It’s so important that people don’t have to worry about paying for an emergency.”
Preakness School is now one of just two polling places in the 5th Ward after a change this year that affected 1,950 voters, said Township Clerk Paul Margiotta.
Voters who were assigned to a polling place at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary R.C. Church on Urban Club Road were switched to the school for multiple reasons, including a lack of accessible parking spots, Margiotta said.
By noon, 236 people cast their votes at the school. A poll worker said the sluggish morning was typical for an off-year election.
Yet James Chappa was not about to skip out on his right to vote.
“Foreign policy has gone to hell in this administration,” said Chappa, a semi-retired house painter. “You got to get out and vote — that’s the only way your voice is gonna be heard.”
-Philip DeVencentis
2:23 p.m. Hawthorne Green Party candidate makes last minute pitch
Craig Cayetano, a 19-year resident of Hawthorne, was on the street Tuesday urging prospective voters to hit the polls — and drumming up support for his own town council campaign.
"It's great to be out here," he said. "Everyone has been very supportive."
One of two candidates in Hawthorne's Ward 3, Cayetano is running this year as Green Party candidate against Republican incumbent Michael Sciarra. Two years ago, Republicans won the race for mayor and swept all three at-large seats on the council. In 2020, Cayetano finished third behind Sciarra and Democratic candidate Kimberly Maciejewski in the battle to represent Ward 3.
This year, council seats for each of Hawthorne's four wards are on the ballot. Every race is contested, and there is a three-way battle for Ward 2. The town's school board race is also contested.
When looking at the ballot, Cayetano said he thinks of the key issues in his town and beyond. How candidates propose to manage budgets, development projects and environmental issues is important, he said. At its core, Election Day is about voting for people who care about what matters, he said.
-David Zimmer
1:04 p.m. Passaic high school students beef up poll worker staffing
In Passaic, the mayor’s program to address a poll worker shortage by adding high school students to the pool is working out, said City Clerk Weatherly Frias. The 29 teenagers, many of them Passaic High School seniors, all showed up on time today and are enthusiastic, he said.
“I just went out to observe,” Frias said. “Normally we are short or tight on election workers. They are doing great.”
Not only are all the polls covered, but they are staffed with bilingual workers, she said.
“What’s nice is that they are also tech-savvy,” Frias said. “They pair nicely with our seasoned election workers.”
Frias said she intends to offer more opportunities for Passaic’s teens in the spring so they can be trained in time for the June primary election.
Mayor Hector Lora said 16-year-olds can be trained, but the city’s program consists entirely of students at least 18 years old.
-Matt Fagan
12:09 p.m. Your voting questions answered
When are polls open?
Polls opened at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023.
When do polls close?
Polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2023. As long as you are in line by 8 p.m., you can cast your vote.
What district am I in?
Search your address using this NJSpotlight tool to find your legislative district. This is the first election cycle featuring newly-drawn maps after redistricting using 2020 Census data, a process that happens every ten years.
Where do I vote?
Visit voter.svrs.nj.gov/polling-place-search to find your polling place.
Is Election Day a federal holiday?
No, Election Day is not one of the 11 federally designated holidays.
Is Election Day a New Jersey state holiday?
Yes, Nov. 7 is one of the 13 holidays observed by state agencies in 2023.
Is mail delivered on Election Day? Is the post office open?
Yes, mail is delivered on Election Day 2023 and post offices are open. FedEx and UPS are also picking up and delivering packages as normal.
Is the DMV open on Election Day?
All motor vehicle commission facilities in New Jersey are closed, including offices, road test sites, and inspection stations.
Where can I find election results?
Check here for election results by town.
Are schools open on Election Day?
The decision varies by school district, so check your school district’s calendar.
10:59 a.m. Bergen County officials addressing small issues at polls
Election officials and a warehouse crew are helping poll workers with small machine issues and user errors at voting sites across Bergen County.
“No voters were turned away…voters are still voting,” said Debra Francica, superintendent of elections and commissioner of registration. “Voters should ask for help if they’re having trouble from poll workers because workers don’t want to be intrusive.”
Some issues stemmed from voters being unfamiliar with voting machines that were replaced in time for the primary election this year. In Westwood, officials reported voters trying to remove the ballots from the printer before a green check mark appeared on the screen, which indicates the entire ballot was finished printing.
“The machines are working fine. I think the voters are just not used to it,” Francica said.
Republican Assemblyman Robert Auth tweeted out a Facebook post by a voter who received the message, “There is already a vote recorded for this activation card. Please remove your activation card and notify a poll worker for assistance.”
“The voter would only receive that message if the voter card was not encoded completely by the poll worker at voter check-in,” Francica said.
Westwood Clerk Karen Hughes explained that the message doesn’t mean a voter has already voted, but that the card has already been inserted into a ballot machine.
“In a nutshell, the cards are programmed with the voter’s ballot and can only be inserted one time,” Hughes said. “Once it’s pulled out it’s cleared. If the same voter tries to insert it again it will not show the ballot. The cards are reused over and over all day. If the card reader doesn’t reprogram the card with the ballot correctly, it will show that message when a voter inserts it.”
Republican Sen. Holly Schepisi said she received calls from constituents and officials in four other Bergen County towns experiencing problems at the polls, including River Vale, Paramus, Norwood and Oradel.
Francica said in River Vale, a ballot marking device wasn’t working because it wasn’t plugged in. Her office helped poll workers set up a ballot marking device in Paramus, and sent a technician to Norwood to check on the batteries in the device. Her team delivered a missing middle privacy curtain to Oradell this morning, and walked poll workers through fixing a paper jam at George Washington School in Ridgewood.
If a voter doesn’t have time to wait as workers resolve a problem, they should ask for a provisional ballot to fill out, or paper ballots that are counted after the polls close, Schepisi said.
Voters with concerns can call the election protection hotline run by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) or the Division of Elections at 1-877-NJ-VOTER (1-877-658-6837).
- Ashley Balcerzak and Kristie Cattafi
9:24 a.m. Federal observers in Union County
Federal observers will monitor polling sites in Union County to make sure the county is complying with the Voting Rights Act, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
In June, a federal court approved a consent decree that requires the county to print ballots in English and Spanish, among other things, such as making trained bilingual election officials available as well as poll workers to help Spanish-speaking voters.
The agreement followed a complaint by federal prosecutors that alleged the county violated provisions of the Voting Rights Act protecting residents with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities.
Those reporting potential violations of federal voting rights laws may contact the Civil Rights Division at civilrights.justice.gov or 800-253-3931.
8:28 a.m. Economy remains top issue impacting NJ vote, new Rutgers poll finds
Taxes and the economy are the biggest concerns among New Jersey voters when deciding how to cast their ballots, according to a Rutgers Eagleton poll released on Election Day.
Forty percent of those polled named fiscal issues as most important to them.
“The culture wars redux we have seen this election cycle may sound nice in soundbites and mailers and may galvanize some in each party’s base and persuade some in the middle,” said Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University New Brunswick.
“But Democrats, Republicans and independents alike say they are most concerned about the economy, cost of living and taxes — and plan to vote with these issues in mind,” Koning said.
When pollsters asked directly about specific issues, 87% of respondents said affordability and cost of living were major factors in deciding their votes, another 87% said the economy and 83% said taxes.
As for other issues that respondents said had a major impact on how they voted:
70% said gun violence
59% said abortion
47% said parental involvement in education
27% said offshore wind
Those polled didn’t have strongly positive views on the New Jersey Legislature: 22% had a favorable impression, compared to 25% with an unfavorable impression. Almost half, or 46%, had no opinion on the legislative body at all, and 7% were unsure what the state Legislature is.
The poll of 974 adults was conducted from Nov. 3 to Nov. 5, with a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
8:00 a.m. More than 530,000 ballots cast before Election Day
Nearly 124,000 New Jerseyans cast ballots in person at polling places during the state's early voting period between Oct. 28 and Nov. 5. And nearly 407,000 voters returned absentee ballots through the mail and in person by Monday, according to an analysis by Ryan Dubicki, elections researcher for the Associated Press.
Of the 530,000 ballots cast before Election Day, Democrats tended to take advantage of early voting more than Republicans, turning in 320,000 ballots compared to the GOP's 127,000 and the 82,000 votes cast by voters unaffiliated with either party.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ election results 2023: Live updates
