Election Day 2024 is upon us – and we’re taking a look this Tuesday at how the great Garden State is preparing for the pivotal day.

Early voting wrapped up Sunday, with officials reporting robust and record levels of participation. More than 1.1 million voters voted early in person during this cycle, along with more than 760,000 mail-in ballots turned in for nearly 2 million votes cast ahead of Election Day, according to state election data.

The last day to early vote was a big one! 150,143 New Jerseyans voted early yesterday, breaking records once again! More than 1.1 million voters voted early this election cycle.

Make your plan to vote tomorrow at https://t.co/erBmfdvstE.

— Lt Governor Tahesha Way (@LtGovWay) November 4, 2024

Gov. Phil Murphy described the early voting process as an overwhelming success, noting that there are several different ways to participate.

“If you can vote a bunch of different ways, the probability that you are going to vote goes up. The chances are that the participation goes up,” Murphy told reporters last week at the State House following the first weekend of early voting, which saw robust in-person and vote by mail figures. “Those are big numbers, and I’m thrilled with that. That’s just good for democracy. Regardless of who you vote for – what party you are in, that’s got to be good news.”

More information on how to vote in New Jersey is available here. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5.

Officials ‘prepared to meet this moment’

At a moment with anxious voters and the potential for attempts by bad actors to interfere with the election and promote misinformation, federal officials stress that they are prepared for this moment.

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Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) recently held a briefing with reporters to outline its efforts to protect election infrastructure. CISA stressed that despite a more complex threat environment, our nation’s election infrastructure has never been more secure.

“Election officials have been preparing for this election – literally, for years,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly during that briefing. “They’ve been training. They’ve been exercising. We’ve been working with them on exercises to run through multiple scenarios around disruption. So, they are prepared to meet this moment on Nov. 5 to deliver free and fair, safe and secure elections.”

CISA has also launched a new, one-stop shop website for election threat updates from the agency and its federal partners. That can be accessed here.

State of play

How do New Jerseyans feeling about things as they head to the polls?

Rutgers-Eagleton released a series of polls last week about the key races (for president and U.S. Senate here in New Jersey) as well as other issues pertaining to the election.

On the presidential race, 55% of registered voters said they would vote, or have already voted, for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Meanwhile, 35% said they would vote, or have already voted for, Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump. Six percent said they would not vote for either candidate or for someone else; 5% answered “unsure”.

“Despite pre-election polls showing a statistical dead heat on the national state and in every battleground state right now, New Jersey will likely remain a win in the blue column this election cycle,” said Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling (ECPIP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “While final results will ultimately depend entirely on who turns out to vote both in the Garden State and nationwide, poll numbers provide insight into how close this year’s races may or may not be leading up to Election Day. Right now, Democrats’ leads in the Garden State look comfortable, but these gaps may very well narrow in the final days through Election Night.”

What’s in a name?

On the Senate race between Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, D-3rd District, and Republican nominee South Jersey businessman Curtis Bashaw, Rutgers examined the state of the race where the candidates do not have near-universal name recognition – and how party affiliation affects voters’ feelings.

“When candidate names are provided without party affiliation, support for Bashaw drops by more than half, and uncertainty of who to vote for markedly increases: 44% say they would vote for Kim (a 5-point decrease), 12% for Bashaw (a 14-point decrease), 8% wouldn’t vote for either candidate or would vote for someone else, and 36% (a 17-point increase) don’t know who they would vote for absent partisan labels,” Rutgers-Eagleton wrote in a press release.

“Partisan cues have a tremendous influence on vote choice, particularly down-ballot when candidates might not be as well-known and voters must instead rely on their party affiliation to fill in information gaps,” said Koning. “This senate race – which went from the forefront of New Jersey politics last year to becoming a sleeper of a contest overshadowed by the roller-coaster spectacle that has been the presidential campaign – is a prime example of that. The absence of party affiliation hurts down-ballot candidates – Bashaw, especially, here. Luckily, the reality is that, even with the race’s lack of attention, both men will benefit from not only stated partisan identification but also the presidential race at the top of the ticket on this year’s ballot.”

Spooky season’s real end

An FDU poll out Oct. 30 has Kim up 18 points (57% to 39%) among likely voters – noting that many voters say they do not know enough about the candidates to have an opinion.

“The Presidential election means that a lot of voters just have not been paying attention to this race,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson, and the executive director of the poll. “In the absence of reasons not to, people are just going to vote by party, and in New Jersey that’s good news for Democrats.”

The key House race to watch here in New Jersey – as indicated in the scathing ads – is in the 7th District between Republican nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democratic nominee Sue Altman, a former professional basketball player and executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.

The race is among a handful in the country that could determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives – drawing a flood of national money into it.

Rutgers also put out polling in advance of the election covering: Halloween fears for New Jersey voters; worries about the future of American democracy; and trusting the electoral process and accepting the 2024 results, which you can check out here.

“Every four years, the end of ‘spooky season’ not only brings Halloween, but also the final stretch of the presidential election and the possibility of an October surprise,” said Konig. “Perhaps what’s not a surprise this election cycle, however, is just how tense Garden State voters are feeling about this nail-biter of a presidential race – with almost 9-in-10 mentioning some type of negative feeling.”

Stay connected to NJBIZ for any breaking election news and notable developments here in New Jersey.