Close to 33,000 people have voted in the special election to fill the 11th Congressional District vacancy. Ballots can be cast through April 16, Election Day.
The House seat to represent parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties has been vacant since Nov. 20, about two weeks after Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the New Jersey governor’s race. Filling this seat is crucial to both parties, as the Republicans hold a three-seat majority. The winner will serve until Jan. 3, when the new Congress is sworn in. A November election will determine who will serve that two-year term.
Three candidates are on the special ballot. The Democrat is Analilia Mejia, a Glen Ridge resident who is co-executive director of the advocacy group Popular Democracy. Randolph Councilman Joe Hathaway, group director of corporate strategy at Real Chemistry, had no opposition for the Republican nomination. Alan Bond, a small-business owner from Montclair, is running as an independent under the slogan Hope for Tomorrow!
More about the race and the candidates’ positions is available via the NJ Spotlight News voter guide.
The district has skewed Democratic since 2018 when Sherrill first won the seat. About 38% of registrants are Democrats, 27% are Republicans and nearly all the rest are unaffiliated.
Mail-in balloting has been underway for weeks and early in-person voting began on Monday. Democrats are dominating the balloting, having cast two-thirds of the mail-in and in-person votes as of Monday, according to an analysis by NJ Spotlight News. Republicans submitted about 20%, and unaffiliated and third-party voters cast about 13%.
Mejia’s lead is significant, according to Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University in Lawrenceville.
“If these trends continue — always a big if — then Hathaway will need an Election Day that can offset both the combined mail-in and early vote,” he said. “In this climate and with this map, that seems like a tall order to overcome.”
Mail-in ballots have been returned by more than a third of the 83,000 people who received them, a sign of voter enthusiasm for a special election for a single unexpired term. Turnout was high for the special primary election in February. More than 83,000 people voted, about 2,000 more than the number who voted in the June 2024 primary when the U.S. presidency topped the ticket.
Eligible voters should have received a sample ballot in the mail. Those unsure of their registration status can check it. Voters can get mail-in ballots if they apply online through Wednesday or request them at their county clerk’s office by 3 p.m. on April 15.
Early in-person voting continues through April 14. Polls are open 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday at select polling locations.
Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by April 16 or placed in a secure dropbox in voters’ home county by 8 p.m. Those using the U.S .Postal Service on or near deadline should ask a clerk to handstamp the ballot so as not to risk disqualification because of a late postmark. Ballots postmarked by Election Day may be counted for six days after the race.
The next contest involving the 11th District is a June 2 primary, for which Hathaway and Mejia have filed. Hathaway has no opponents. Mejia faces three fellow Democrats for the party’s nomination: Donald Cresitello of Morristown, Joseph Lewis II of Montville and Justin Strickland of Chatham.
