❎ Over 825,000 ballots cast early in New Jersey’s heated governor’s race — turnout hits 13.5% before Election Day.

😲 Mail-in ballot thefts reported in Middlesex and Union Counties, sparking integrity concerns.

✔ Voters can track their ballots online to confirm if they’ve been received, rejected, or accepted.

Over 825,000 votes have already been cast in the race for governor in New Jersey. That puts turnout at 13.5% even before Election Day.

Democrats are going into the general election with a cushion of at least 213,000 votes, based on party affiliation of the ballots returned by mail and voters who have cast their ballots early.

Ballot thefts in Middlesex and Union spark election integrity fears

Already there are concerns about the integrity of early voting activity.

Ballots were stolen in Middlesex and Union counties.

According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, mail-in ballots were stolen in Metuchen on Sept. 24. The service was also investigating another theft in Woodbridge.

The U.S. Justice Department is also sending federal monitors to polling locations in Passaic County after questions were raised about voting integrity.

Voters are encouraged to track their ballots before Election Day. (NJ Div of Elections/Townsquare Media illustration)

How to track your New Jersey mail-in ballot

New Jersey allows you to track your mail-in ballot to verify receipt.

Once your ballot is received by your county Board of Elections, it is logged in and verified.

The first step is to check the security envelope and verify that it has been signed. That signature will then be checked against the signature on your voting record, similar to the way signatures are compared when you vote in person.

In order to track your ballot and verify that it has been received, you will need to first set up a My Voter Record account. You can do that HERE.

Once you have your account set up, you can then see the status of your ballot.

Note that each county processes and updates ballot status differently, and the pace will vary from county to county.

What your ballot tracker status means

Once your record is updated, you should see the status of your ballot as "Received" and a status message.

✔ Received

Your ballot has been received by your county’s Board of Elections. The security envelope it was mailed in will be checked to make sure it has been signed. The signature will then be reviewed and compared to make sure that it matches the signature in your voting record.

After your ballot is checked, it will either be cleared for counting or rejected (see below).

✔ Rejected

Ballots can be rejected for a number of reasons, the most prevalent being a missing or non-matching signature. A missing or non-matching signature is the only reason, by law, that a ballot can be “cured” and then counted.

If your vote-by-mail ballot was missing your signature or the County Board of Elections has determined that your signature does not match the one in your voting record, your county Board of Elections will contact you — by email, phone, or letter — to certify that you did, in fact, cast that ballot.