Essex County Votes For Murphy By 3-To-1 Margin: 2021 Election

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County voted for Gov. Phil Murphy by nearly a 3-to-1 margin over Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli in the 2021 race for governor, unofficial results show.

Statewide, Murphy has barely eked out a victory, according to projections from the Associated Press and other media outlets. Ciattarelli isn’t conceding the election, however, saying that there are “still tens of thousands of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots yet to be counted” out of the 2.4 million ballots cast across New Jersey.

Other gubernatorial candidates included Gregg Mele (Libertarian Party), Madelyn Hoffman (Green Party) and Joanne Kuniansky (Socialist Workers Party).

In Essex County, there were still 3,698 provisional ballots that needed to be verified as of Friday. According to the county clerk’s office, the bulk of the vote-by-mail ballots have been tallied, with a “minimal amount” that may still come in through the postal service as long as they’re postmarked on or before Nov. 2. Election results will be certified on Nov. 18.

• See related article: Essex County Finishes Election Day Count After Ballot Issues

According to the state division of elections, Essex County’s most recent voter registration totals included 299,345 Democratic Party members, 58,527 Republican Party members and 209,214 unaffiliated voters.

HOW ESSEX COUNTY VOTED

With 550 of 550 districts in Essex County reported, here are the county’s unofficial results in the governor race as of Nov. 4:

• Phil Murphy – 125,617 (73.67%)
• Jack Ciattarelli – 43,864 (25.72%)
• Madelyn Hoffman – 447 (0.26%)
• Gregg Mele – 306 (0.18%)
• Joanne Kuniansky – 280 (0.16%)

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