Sharp Drop in New Jersey’s Vote-By-Mail List Observed
When comparing New Jersey’s vote-by-mail (VBM) list from November 2024 to today, the numbers tell a striking story.
- As of November 2024, the New Jersey VBM list contained 1.11 million voters.
- As of today, the same list shows only 895,000 voters.
- That means 257,000 names are missing from the list compared to just ten months ago.
This reduction is not explained by the usual voter-file maintenance alone. In February 2025, the state did conduct a cleanup of 239,000 inactive confirmation voters—people already flagged as maintaining a bad address and also not having voted in two consecutive federal elections - but the discrepancy in the VBM list goes beyond that.
The key question is: what happened to the voters who were removed? Were they stripped entirely from the rolls, or merely shifted back to in-person voting?
Legislative Context: A “Use It or Lose It” Rule
The answer lies in recent legislative changes. In 2018 and again in 2022, New Jersey lawmakers updated N.J.S.A. 19:63-3, which governs permanent mail-in ballot status. Under these provisions:
- Any voter may choose to receive mail-in ballots for all future elections.
- However, if a voter does not cast a mail-in ballot in four consecutive years, their automatic VBM status is discontinued.
- County clerks are required to notify such voters that they will no longer automatically receive mail ballots, though they remain eligible to vote in person or re-apply for mail-in status.
This means that the sharp reduction on the list does not necessarily signal widespread registration purges. Instead, it reflects the automatic removal of voters who have not consistently used their VBM option over the past four years.
What This Means for Voters
Practically, many of the 257,000 “missing” voters may still be fully registered and eligible—they have just been shifted back to the default status of in-person voters. Unless they reapply, they will not automatically receive a ballot in the mail for upcoming elections.
For election administrators, this marks a significant recalibration of the VBM universe in New Jersey. For voters, it underscores the importance of checking their registration and mail-in status well ahead of election deadlines.
The Bottom Line
The drop from 1.11 million to 895,000 permanent mail-in voters represents one of the most significant shifts in New Jersey’s voting landscape since VBM expanded in 2020. While the 239,000 inactive removals in February grabbed headlines, the larger story is the impact of state law: the built-in requirement to remove voters from the permanent VBM list after four years of non-participation.
The impact of this drop is likely minimal on the upcoming election as none of these voters actually voted in the last 4 years.
