Pursuant to the federal "Help America Vote Act of 2002" (HAVA), if you registered to vote by mail in your county after January 1, 2003, and never voted in a federal election in the county, you were required to provide your county commissioner of registration with identification.
Whenever a person delivers a ballot to the county board, that person shall provide proof of the person's identity in the form of a New Jersey driver's license, or another form of identification issued or recognized as official by the federal government, the State, or any of its subdivisions, providing the identification carries the full address and signature of the person. The person shall sign a record maintained by the county of all mail-in ballots personally delivered to it.
A voter may vote by mail by completing the Application for Vote by Mail Ballot (listed below) and returning the application to their County Clerk.
To receive your ballot by mail, the application must be received by the County Clerk 7 days prior to the election.
A voter may also apply in person to the County Clerk until 3:00 p.m., the day before the election.
The County Clerk cannot accept faxed or emailed copies of a Application for Vote by Mail Ballot, unless you are a Military or Overseas Voter, since an original signature is required.
You can check your registration status here. If you are not registered to vote, the registration deadline for this general election is October 13th, 2020. New Jersey now offers online voter registration here.
If you don’t receive your ballot and you are registered, please contact your county clerk to determine the status of your ballot and next steps. If you did not receive your ballot and would like to receive your ballot by mail you must request your ballot by Friday, October 23rd. Otherwise you must get your vote by mail ballot in-person from your county clerk. If you pick up a vote by mail ballot on Election Day, in person, you have until 8 pm to return it to the Board of Elections, or your polling place, or deposit it in one of your county’s secure authorized ballot drop boxes.
Find your County Clerk contact information.
If you haven’t received your ballot in a timely matter, you can check the status online here or contact your county clerk here. If you haven’t received your ballot, you may apply for a vote by mail ballot by mail by Friday, October 23rd, 2020. Information on how to apply can be found here. Thereafter, you must get your vote by mail ballot in-person from your county clerk. If you pick up a vote by mail ballot on Election Day, you have until 8 pm to return it to the county Board of Elections or your polling place, or deposit it in one of your county’s secure ballot drop boxes.
Ballots for U.S. citizens who are active members of the Uniformed Services, the Merchant Marine, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, their eligible family members, and U.S. citizens residing outside the United States will be sent by September 19th.
First time users have to create an account and will need either a Driver’s License Number, Last 4 digits of SSN, or Voter ID Number to validate voter registration status. (If you don’t know your Voter ID number, you can obtain it by going to "Am I Registered?" or contact your Superintendent of Elections or Commissioner of Registration)
Additionally, every ballot without a postmark, and ballots mismarked and confirmed by the post office that those ballots were received by the post office on or before November 3, 2020, that is received by the county Boards of Elections from the United States Postal Service within forty-eight (48) hours of the closing of polls on November 3, 2020, shall be considered valid and shall be canvassed, assuming the ballot meets all other statutory requirements.
You may only vote for the number of candidate(s) permitted for the office that you are casting a vote for. Example – Office of President- Vote for One- you may only vote for one. Voting for more than one creates an “Over Vote” which disqualifies the vote cast for that office. Please remember to check the back and any additional pages of your ballot to ensure that you have reviewed all offices up for election and any State, Local or School questions that may be on the ballot.
Be sure to complete and sign the certificate attached to the inner envelope when you return your vote by mail ballot.
Be sure to leave the certificate attached to the inner envelope. Do not put it inside the inner envelope.
If you are going to mail your ballot, it must be postmarked ON or BEFORE Election Day, November 3rd, 2020 and received by your county Board of Elections by 8 pm November 10th, 2020.
If you are not sure if your ballot will arrive in time, you can drop it off in person at the county Board of Elections, your designated polling place, or one of the county’s secure authorized ballot drop boxes, or at your polling place on Election Day. Contact your Board of Elections for drop-off locations.
If you are dropping your ballot off in-person, you must do-so by 8 pm on Election Day, November 3rd, 2020.
The Boards of Elections may start counting ballots 10 days before the election. The counting of ballots will continue until after the deadline for receipt of timely mailed postmarked mail-in ballots, on November 10th at 8pm.
If another person will be mailing your ballot, bringing it to a secure ballot drop box, or delivering it to the county Board of Elections, make certain that person completes the “Bearer Portion” on the envelope addressed to the Board of Elections before the ballot is taken from you. No person who is a candidate in this election is permitted to serve as a bearer. No person is permitted to serve as a bearer for more than three qualified voters in an election. It is against the law for anyone except you, the voter, to mail or transport your ballot unless the outer envelope is sealed and the “Bearer Portion” is completed.
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - English
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - Espanol
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - Gujarati
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - Hindi
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - Korean
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - Punjabi
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - Simplified Chinese
Statewide Vote By Mail Ballot Application - Traditional Chinese
Page Last Updated: 09/24/20