Early in-person voting starts today in New Jersey for midterm election

Voters have been submitting their paper ballots for the last few weeks, but those who have waited to cast their votes in person can do so starting Oct. 24.

The polls will open at designated early-voting locations on Saturday at 10 a.m. Early voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 1.

Polls will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with no appointments necessary.

Voting takes place at specific early locations in each county that are likely different from the local polling place used on Election Day.

During last year's early in-person voting period, 741,924 ballots were cast. More than 230,000 of them came in during the last weekend of early voting, with 104,428 and 126,555 ballots cast on the final Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The opportunity to vote early in person was first made available in New Jersey in 2021, and the 2024 presidential election saw a record number of people take advantage of it: 1,172,842, to be exact.

Each county has multiple early-voting locations. Bergen County has 10, Essex County has 11, Morris County has eight, Passaic County has 10 and Sussex County has three. Specific addresses can be found on the state's Division of Elections website.

Voters who were issued a mail-in ballot in this election are expected to vote using that ballot.

If they go to a polling place to cast a vote in person instead, they'll be able to vote only via provisional ballot instead of voting on a machine in the traditional way. The electronic pollbook at their polling location will indicate that they already received a ballot.

Provisional ballots are used as a way to defend against voter fraud. They are cast by voters whose eligibility to vote cannot be confirmed at the polls on Election Day or if they have applied for a vote-by-mail ballot. If, after the election, it is determined that the voter who cast the provisional ballot was eligible to vote, the ballot will be counted.

As of Oct. 1, New Jersey had 6,725,177 registered voters.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Early in-person voting starts today in New Jersey for midterm election