Essex County Voters Have Until 3 P.M. Today to Apply In Person for a Mail Ballot
Early in-person voting ended Sunday, but one mail-ballot door is still open in Essex County: registered voters can apply in person at the County Clerk's office in Newark until 3 p.m. Monday. Polls then open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Essex County voters who want to vote by mail but have not yet applied have one last window, and it closes this afternoon. Registered voters can apply in person for a vote-by-mail ballot at the Essex County Clerk's office, 495 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Newark, until 3 p.m. today, Monday, November 2, according to the county clerk's 2026 general election voting guide and the New Jersey election calendar. The by-mail application deadline passed on October 27, and the state's early in-person voting period ended Sunday, November 1.
A completed mail ballot can be returned three ways, the clerk's guide says. It can be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service, where it must be postmarked on or before Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, and received by the Essex County Board of Elections by November 9. It can be placed in one of the county's secure ballot drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Or it can be delivered in person to the Board of Elections office at the MLK Justice Building, 495 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Suite 145 in Newark, by 8 p.m. on November 3. A completed mail ballot cannot be dropped off at a regular polling place.
Voters who would rather vote in person go to their assigned polling place on Tuesday, when polls across New Jersey are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The clerk's guide tells voters to check their sample ballot for their polling location, or to look it up through the New Jersey Division of Elections polling-place search. The Essex County Clerk's office can be reached at 973-621-4922 and the county Board of Elections at 973-621-5070 for voting questions.
