TRENTON — Partisan voters in New Jersey can head to the polls today to select Democrats and Republicans to run for office in the November election, bringing to a conclusion the too-close-to-call battle for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters registered as Democrats or Republicans may vote, and voters unaffiliated with any party and not declared independents can vote by joining a party today at their polling place.
In the race for governor, Democrats are expected to nominate U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine, who faces token opposition from Francis Tenaglio, a Philadelphia high school teacher from Haddon Township, and James Kelly Jr., who lives in a Chester group home.
Republicans have a much more competitive gubernatorial primary. A field of seven candidates is pursuing the party's nomination, with front-runners Doug Forrester and Bret Schundler heading the list.
Forrester and Schundler won the party's 2002 U.S. Senate and 2001 gubernatorial nominations, respectively, only to lose the November general elections. Their race has become negative and personal, but both have said they'd support the other if they lose.
Opinion polls have suggested the race will be close. Results of a Quinnipiac University survey of 329 likely Republican primary voters released Monday suggested Forrester leads Schundler by 2 percentage points, which is within the poll's margin of error.
The field also includes five candidates running far behind the leaders — former Bergen County freeholder Todd Caliguire, Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano, Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, Morris County Freeholder John Murphy and businessman Robert Schroeder, a councilman in Bergen County.
Voters must also nominate candidates for state Assembly. Republicans have 10 contests, with the races in the 13th and 23rd districts the most competitive. Democrats have nine contests, with one incumbent vulnerable in the 31st District.
Voters will also choose candidates for county and municipal offices.
There are 1,130,543 registered Democrats in New Jersey and 854,023 registered Republicans eligible to vote in today's primary. There are also more than 2.8 million unaffiliated voters who can declare with a political party and vote today.
Once such voters declare themselves as a Democrat or Republican, they cannot switch back to being unaffiliated. But they can join the other major party, the 19,173 registered independents or the 1,400 members of minor parties such as the Green or Libertarian parties.
Voters can only declare themselves members of a party at the polling place once. Future changes in party affiliation can be made by filling out a form between elections and filing it with the county election board.
