New Jersey’s nine-day in-person early voting period ends Sunday, Nov. 1, at 6 p.m. Here are the hours, how many sites each county runs, how mail ballots must be returned and what official turnout figures are available.
Figures as of Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, 6:40 a.m. ET. Turnout counts below run through Thursday, Oct. 29, as posted by Morris County. Statewide registration is as of Oct. 1.
New Jersey early voting 2026 runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, at 171 early voting locations across all 21 counties, based on the county site lists on the New Jersey Division of Elections’ in-person early voting page. Sites are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. No appointment is needed. There is no early voting on Monday, Nov. 2. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, when polling places are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The state lists 6,725,177 registered voters as of Oct. 1, 2026, according to its statewide voter registration summary. The ballot includes races for U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, according to the Division of Elections’ 2026 election information page.
New Jersey early voting 2026 hours and deadlines
| Day | What is open or due | Hours or deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Early voting sites | 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Sun., Nov. 1 (last day) | Early voting sites | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Mon., Nov. 2 | No early voting. Last day to apply in person at the county clerk’s office for a mail ballot | By 3 p.m. (Middlesex County schedule) |
| Tue., Nov. 3 (Election Day) | Polling places; mail ballot drop boxes and county Board of Elections offices | Polls 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; mail ballots in by 8 p.m. |
| Mon., Nov. 9 | Last day for a mailed ballot postmarked by Election Day to arrive | Six days after Election Day |
Voters can use any early voting site in their own county, not just the one closest to home. The Middlesex County Board of Elections, for example, says a voter can cast a ballot “at any of your county’s designated in-person early voting locations.” Voters check in on an electronic poll book and vote on a machine.
How many early voting sites each county has
State law sets a minimum of 3 to 10 early voting locations per county, depending on its size, according to the Division of Elections, and some counties run more. The state’s list shows three sites each in Cape May, Cumberland, Hunterdon, Salem, Sussex and Warren counties, 10 each in Bergen, Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic and Union counties, 11 in Essex County and 31 in Hudson County, where many sites are mobile trailers. Morris County has eight and Somerset has six.
Voters can find sites and drop boxes on the Division of Elections’ interactive maps page, which links to an early voting map and a ballot drop box map. The state voter hotline is 1-877-NJ-VOTER (1-877-658-6837).
Mail ballots: where they can and cannot go
NOTE: Vote-by-mail ballots CANNOT be returned to your polling place for this election.
New Jersey Division of Elections, in-person early voting page
Early voting sites do not take mail ballots either. “Vote by mail ballots cannot be submitted at Early Voting locations,” the Middlesex County Board of Elections says. A voter whose record shows a mail ballot was received can still vote in person, but on a provisional ballot rather than a voting machine, according to the county and the state.
A completed mail ballot can go in a county secure drop box or to the county Board of Elections office by 8 p.m. on Election Day. A ballot sent by mail must be postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day and received by the county within six days, according to the state.
New Jersey early voting turnout so far
The Division of Elections had not posted a statewide early voting total for the 2026 general election as of Friday morning. Its periodic reporting guide says each county board must make public “a tally of the total number of voters who cast a ballot at each early voting location during the previous day,” updated no later than noon each day of early voting and sent to the Secretary of State. Those tallies are posted county by county.
Morris County is one example. Its Voting and Elections page shows 27,954 voters at its eight early voting sites from Saturday, Oct. 24, through Thursday, Oct. 29. That is about 7.1% of the county’s 395,779 registered voters. Turnout peaked at 5,527 on opening Saturday and has run between 4,110 and 4,960 on each weekday since. Sunday, with shorter hours, drew 4,198.
Denville Municipal Building has been the busiest Morris site, with 4,918 voters, followed by Mount Olive Municipal Building with 4,350. Mount Arlington Civic Center has had the fewest, 2,255.
For a sense of scale, 2,658,149 ballots were cast statewide in the 2022 midterm, 41% of 6,444,613 registered voters, according to the state’s official 2022 turnout report. In the 2025 general election, when the state elected a governor, turnout was 51%, with 3,369,507 ballots cast of 6,549,793 registered voters. Early votes, mail ballots and Election Day votes together make up those totals. For counts from other states, see the Politics Elections tally of how many people have voted early in 2026 and its early voting numbers and ballots returned tracker.
What these numbers do and don’t tell you
Turnout counts are not results. County tallies count voters who checked in, not votes for any candidate. Under the state’s reporting rules, county clerks must post the first unofficial results, including early votes, by 11:59 p.m. on Election Day. One county is not the state. Morris County’s pace does not predict statewide turnout, and county tallies are posted on different schedules and formats. No party breakdown is used here. The Morris table reports voters by site and day only.
About these numbers
Hours, deadlines, site counts and mail ballot rules are from the New Jersey Division of Elections in-person early voting page (page last updated Oct. 14, 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026. The site count of 171 is the number of early voting locations on the state’s county lists, which counties update on their own schedules. Morris County figures are from the county’s turnout table as read at 6:40 a.m. ET Oct. 30 and cover Oct. 24-29; the county updates the table daily, and figures may change. The 7.1% share uses Morris County’s Oct. 1, 2026 registration of 395,779 from the state registration summary. Registration and 2022 and 2025 turnout figures are from the Division of Elections. The mail ballot application deadline is from the Middlesex County Board of Elections’ 2026 general election page.
