TRENTON — Voters are lining up outside the polls, but it's still too early to tell if turnout will swell or sink this year in the state's most competitive districts. "This is just anecdotal but right now it doesn't seem to be real heavy," said George Hanley, president of the Board of Elections in Morris County, where Republicans have...
State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), exits the polling booth after voting Tuesday morning at Public School No. 23 in Elizabeth.TRENTON — Voters are lining up outside the polls, but it's still too early to tell if turnout will swell or sink this year in the state's most competitive districts.
"This is just anecdotal but right now it doesn't seem to be real heavy," said George Hanley, president of the Board of Elections in Morris County, where Republicans have mounted primary challenges to incumbent legislators including state Sen. Anthony Bucco. "Sometimes it picks up later in the day, with people coming home from work, but with the out-of-state ballot process it's a little easier to vote for people who commute. We'll have to wait and see."
In another battleground county, Passaic, "it's been a little on the light side," said Board of Elections Chairman John Currie.
"I would expect it to pick up. We do have some challengers on the Republican side" for county-level races, he said.
Few details were available from Union County, where Democrats including state Sen. Ray Lesniak and Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan have been fighting a tough primary battle in recent weeks. An election board official said he had received no word from the field.
Joanne Rajoppi, the county clerk, said she had no reports either but that there had been a spike in the number of voters who asked to mail in their votes. She said 2,692 voters applied for absentee ballots this year.
"Now you have to recognize that this is a legislative election," she said. "That is a somewhat higher number than previous legislative years."
But absentee ballots may not be the best indicator of how turnout will fare this year across the state. Morris County also saw an uptick in applications, but in Bergen County the number was the same, according to officials, and Passaic had a smaller number of absentee ballots compared with previous elections, Currie said.
Of the state's 40 legislative districts, only 16 have contested primaries this year, but a number of county and local offices are also up for grabs. Polls have been open since 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
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⇒ LIVE ELECTION RESULTS TONIGHT
Polls close at 8 p.m. at every polling site across the state.
Results of the Senate and Assembly races will be posted on NJ.com's election page — nj.com/elections — as soon as they become available tonight, and results of contested local races in Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union counties will be posted on NJ.com's county news pages as soon as our reporters confirm the numbers.