Latest NJ Vote Totals As Trump Projected To Win Presidency

Update: The Associated Press is projecting that Kamala Harris has won New Jersey, and that Donald Trump has won the presidency.

Previous reporting:

NEW JERSEY — There are lots of reasons why New Jersey residents turned out in droves to vote in the 2024 general election: races for local town councils and school boards, ballot questions, Congress seats. But one matchup was undoubtedly at the top of their list: the presidential contest between Kamala Harris and the projected winner, Donald Trump.

Garden State voters went to the polls on Tuesday for Election Day 2024, casting ballots for U.S. president, among other choices. Polls closed at 8 p.m. in New Jersey.

A presidential candidate needs at least 270 votes from the Electoral College to win. New Jersey has 14 Electoral College votes.

The Associated Press has called the race for Trump. Here are the latest nationwide vote counts as of 7:38 a.m. on Nov. 6:

• Kamala Harris - 47.5 percent (224 Electoral College votes)
• Donald Trump - 51 percent (277 Electoral College votes)

NEW JERSEY RESULTS

Several people made the final cut for the presidential ballot in New Jersey this year. They include Kamala Harris (Democrat), Donald Trump (Republican), Chase Oliver (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green Party), Claudia De La Cruz (Party for Socialism and Liberation), Randall Terry (Constitution Party), Joseph Kishore (Socialist Equity Party), Rachele Fruit (Socialist Workers Party) and independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (although Kennedy has suspended his campaign, he will still appear on the presidential ballot in New Jersey and several other states).

The Associated Press is projecting that Harris is the winner in New Jersey. Here were the uncertified results with 73 percent of votes counted:

• Kamala Harris – 1,684,776 votes (52.1%)
• Donald Trump – 1,493,013 votes (46.1%)
• Claudia De La Cruz – 3,501 votes (0.1%)
• Rachele Fruit – 930 votes (0.03%)
• Robert Kennedy – 17,235 votes (0.5%)
• Joseph Kishore – 970 votes (0.03%)
• Chase Oliver – 7,457 votes (0.2%)
• Jill Stein – 25,100 votes (0.8%)
• Randall Terry – 2,167 votes (0.07%)

WHEN WILL FINAL RESULTS BE DECLARED?

With recent polling showing a nail-biter of a race, it could be days before a winner is declared, some experts said prior to Tuesday's showdown.

Winners in some presidential elections have been declared within hours. But with potential recounts or legal challenges lurking, and the crushing task of trying to count millions of ballots in multiple states, that may not be in the cards for the 2024 election.

The Associated Press, which has projected winners in U.S. elections for more than 170 years, has cautioned that "we are unlikely to know the winner quickly on Election Night." Learn about how the AP calls winners here.

The 2020 presidential race took place on Nov. 3 and was called on Nov. 7, the BBC reported. In 2016, a winner was declared around 3 a.m. on the day after Election Night.

It's worth noting that news organizations only announce "projected" winners. The authority to certify the final results lies in the hands of election officials.

QUALIFYING FOR THE BALLOT

Qualifying as a U.S. presidential candidate in each of the 50 states isn’t an easy feat, with a byzantine system of requirements and challenges standing between a politician and a final spot on the ballot.

Some presidential hopefuls were stymied by legal roadblocks in their attempt to land a spot on the ballot in New Jersey this year, including Shiva Ayyadurai, a scientist and Livingston High School Hall of Famer who holds the first U.S. copyright for “email.”

Ayyadurai recently filed to run as an independent candidate for president in several states, including New Jersey. After the New Jersey Democratic State Committee challenged Ayyadurai’s attempt to get on the ballot – he was born in India and is a naturalized citizen – Secretary of State Tahesha Way eventually removed Ayyadurai from the ballot after a judge deemed him ineligible. He will still be appearing on the 2024 presidential ballot in several other states.

The MIT graduate has since taken taken his lawsuit to the Supreme Court, arguing that preventing him from running for president because of his birthplace amounts to treating him as a “second-class” member of society.

VOTER REGISTRATION TOTALS IN NEW JERSEY

As of Nov. 1, there were 2,534,932 voters in New Jersey registered with the Democratic Party, 1,628,633 voters registered with the Republican Party and 2,485,411 unaffiliated voters, according to the latest state data.

There were also 78,382 voters registered with a third-party, the data shows. Read More: NJ Voter Registration Totals Ahead Of Election Day (See The Breakdown)

EARLY VOTING, MAIL-IN BALLOTS

While the bulk of New Jersey’s voters still turned out on Election Day, a growing number of them are turning in their ballots early.

According to the state Division of Elections, New Jersey voters had cast more than 1. 17 million early in-person and 763,000 mail-in ballots as of Monday morning.

• Read More: Nearly 2 Million Ballots Already Cast In NJ (See The Latest Data)
• Read More: New Jersey Turns Out In Record Numbers To Vote Early

PRE-ELECTION POLLING

The storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021 and two assassination attempts on Trump’s life this election cycle have left their mark on New Jersey voters.

Pre-election polling from the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University-New Brunswick found that the majority of New Jersey residents are worried about potential political violence this election season.

About 8 in 10 voters said it is either “very” (37%) or “somewhat likely” (42%) that there will be some sort of violence in response to election results in the U.S. in the coming months. Nearly 11 percent of voters said they know someone who would potentially consider engaging in political violence. Read More: Political Violence Is A Big Worry In New Jersey, Poll Says

However, most people seem ready to accept the results of the Harris-Trump matchup – no matter how it turns out, pollsters said.

A majority of New Jersey registered voters say they have faith in the legitimacy of the electoral process, whether looking back on 2020 or looking ahead, according to a special Rutgers-Eagleton poll done in partnership with NJ Advance Media and the Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience at the Eagleton Institute of Politics.

When it comes to 2024, about 81 percent of surveyed voters said they will accept the outcome of the presidential election regardless of whether their choice wins – with only about 5 percent saying they won’t. Another 15 percent said they don’t know how they feel.

Send news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.