How New Jersey’s Primary Election System Works

New Jersey uses a closed primary system, meaning voters who are registered with a political party may only vote in that party’s primary election. Registered Democrats vote in Democratic primaries, while registered Republicans vote in Republican primaries.

Unaffiliated voters may participate in a primary election by selecting a party ballot at the polling place. Doing so temporarily affiliates the voter with that party, though voters may later return to unaffiliated status. New Jersey’s primaries are used to select each party’s nominees for offices such as U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, statewide offices, and state and local positions.

New Jersey does not use statewide primary runoff elections; instead, the candidate with the most votes in each primary wins the party’s nomination for the general election.