Preparations kick into high gear in New Jersey ahead of Election Day

Voting machines have been set up at each polling location and are locked up and ready for voters to line up at 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Chris Keating

Nov 4, 2024, 10:09 PM

Updated 28 days ago

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Major preparations are taking place throughout New Jersey ahead of Election Day on Tuesday.
Voting machines have been set up at each polling location and are locked up and ready for voters to line up at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Polls close at 8 p.m. in New Jersey.
Along with the presidential race, New Jersey is also choosing a new U.S. senator following the bribery conviction of Bob Menendez.
Rep. Andy Kim, a Democrat, will compete with Republican Curtis Bashaw for that seat.
There's a tight congressional race between incumbent Republican Tom Kean Jr. and Democrat Sue Altman. Many New Jerseyans have already voted through Early Voting and mail-in ballots.
“I think we received with early voting about 160,000 ballots," says Rich Miller, chair of the Bergen County Board of Elections.
His team also collected 76,000 mail-in ballots, which they've already started counting.
Miller says people can put those in drop boxes until 8 p.m. Tuesday.
“We have 32 drop boxes from North Arlington to Mahwah," he says.
Miller says the county has hired 3,600 workers for Election Day. They've even trained and hired 500 high school students to help out.
What can we expect in New Jersey on Election Day?
“You may have lines tomorrow, there may be lines especially if turnout is as high as it should be. But you’ve got to be patient," says Micah Rasmussen, political analyst at Rider University.
Since New Jersey isn’t a “battleground state,” like Pennsylvania, Rasmussen isn’t expecting protesting or trouble at the polls.
As a reminder, protesters and police officers aren’t allowed within 100 feet of a polling site. And voters can’t wear campaign swag when casting a ballot.
Rasmussen says there could be big numbers when it comes to turnout since there are three ways to vote - mail-in ballot, Early Voting and in person at a machine on Election Day.