John Migueis

The following data is based on data received from the Union County Board of Elections and represent Unofficial Results

Early Voting

Total Union County Registered Voters: 383,383
Total EV Ballots Cast: 8,237
Democratic Ballots: 6,115
Republican Ballots: 2,122

Overall Early Voting Turnout Rate:
Total: ~2.15%
Democratic Voter Turnout: ~1.6%
Republican Voter Turnout: ~ 3.2%

Highest Democratic Turnout Rates (Top 3 Muni.)
New Providence – 7.18%
Plainfield – 6.69%
Roselle – 5.56%

Highest Republican Turnout Rates (Top 3 Muni.)
New Providence – 8.00
Mountainside – 2.66%
Kenilworth – 2.70%

Municipalities with Highest Total Early Voter Turnout (all parties)
Union Township – 1,212 ballots cast
Plainfield – 1,127 ballots cast
Rahway – 663 ballots cast
Elizabeth – 663 ballots cast

Notes on Early Voting:
New Providence, Summit, and Westfield: Republican voters turned out at noticeably higher rates than in other suburban areas.

Largest numbers of Democratic early votes came from Elizabeth, Plainfield, and Rahway.

Election Day Voting

Countywide Overview
Total Election Day ballots cast: 36,060
Democratic ballots: 23,846
Republican ballots: 12,214

Top Muni. by Election Day Ballots
Elizabeth: 5,616 ballots (4,729 Democratic, 887 Republican)
Union Township: 3,808 ballots (2,928 Democratic, 880 Republican)
Plainfield: 2,781 ballots (2,509 Democratic, 272 Republican)
Westfield: 2,163 ballots (1,207 Democratic, 956 Republican)
Scotch Plains: 2,016 ballots (1,189 Democratic, 827 Republican)

Muni. with High Republican Participation
Westfield: 956 Republican ballots (44% of total cast)
Scotch Plains: 827 Republican ballots (41%)
Summit: 844 Republican ballots (52%)
New Providence: 737 Republican ballots (63%)
Berkeley Heights: 733 Republican ballots (66%)

Muni. with High Democratic Voting
Plainfield: 90% Democratic
Elizabeth: 84% Democratic
Hillside: 87% Democratic
Roselle: 88% Democratic
Rahway: 78% Democratic

Lowest Election Day Participation
Winfield: 49 total ballots
Garwood: 407 total ballots

Notes on Election Day Voting:

A little over 36,000 Union County residents voted in person on Election Day – < 10% of the county’s registered voters.

Democratic voters cast 23,846 ballots, while Republican voters cast 12,214.

Elizabeth, Plainfield, Hillside, and Roselle leaned heavily Democratic, with anywhere from 84% to 90% of ballots going to Democratic candidates.

Berkeley Heights, New Providence, and Summit, most in-person voters were Republicans:

66% in Berkeley Heights, 63% in New Providence, and 52% in Summit.

Despite having smaller populations, these towns still turned out some of the largest raw Republican vote totals in the county.

Westfield was nearly split down the middle on Election Day, with 1,207 Democratic votes and 956 Republican.

Scotch Plains showed a similar pattern, with 1,189 Democratic and 827 Republican votes.

Vote by Mail

Overall Vote-by-Mail Participation
A total of 19,390 ballots were cast by mail:
Democratic ballots: 14,414
Republican ballots: 4,976

Top Muni. by Total VBM Ballots
Elizabeth: 3,619 (2,978 Democratic, 641 Republican)
Union Township: 2,421 (1,921 Democratic, 500 Republican)
Plainfield: 2,040 (1,848 Democratic, 192 Republican)
Westfield: 1,567 (936 Democratic, 631 Republican)
Scotch Plains: 1,227 (746 Democratic, 481 Republican)

Muni. with Strong Democratic VBM Use
Plainfield: 90.6% of VBM ballots were Democratic
Hillside: 88.7% Democratic
Roselle: 88.2% Democratic
Elizabeth: 82.3% Democratic
Rahway: 78.5% Democratic

Muni. with High Republican VBM Turnout (as % of local VBM total)
Berkeley Heights: 73.5% Republican (626 of 852 ballots)
New Providence: 71.6% Republican (662 of 925 ballots)
Summit: 58.7% Republican (728 of 1,240 ballots)
Mountainside: 56.7% Republican (362 of 638 ballots)
Westfield: 40.3% Republican (631 of 1,567 ballots)

Notes on Vote by Mail

Democratic voters made much heavier use of mail-in ballots than Republicans – they made up 75% of all VBM ballots in Union County.

The highest volume of vote-by-mail activity came from Elizabeth, Union, and Plainfield.

Plainfield, Hillside, and Roselle – Democrats cast close to 90% or more of all VBM ballots.

Republican participation in vote-by-mail was centered in suburban communities. In Berkeley Heights and New Providence, more than 70% of the mailed ballots were Republican.

Westfield returned one of the largest Republican VBM total (631 ballots) but still showed a slight overall Democratic edge.

Gubernatorial Candidates

Democrats

Mikie Sherrill led the Democratic totals in Union County, pulling in 7,324 total votes and performed well across all three voting methods.

Ras Baraka came in second with 6,170 votes. He had the strongest showing in early voting and did well on Election Day.

Steven Fulop finished just behind Baraka with 6,168 votes- his support was consistent across all three methods.

Republicans

Jack Ciattarelli led the Republican side with 4,189 votes, finishing well ahead of the rest of the field. He led in every voting category and had especially strong support among vote-by-mail voters.

Bill Spadea came in a distant second with 1,252 votes. Most of his support came from mail-in ballots, while his in-person turnout was comparatively weak.

Voting Patterns

Vote-by-mail played a major role for Sherrill, Fulop, and Ciattarelli. Baraka leaned heavily on early voting and had the strongest performance in that category. For most candidates, Election Day saw the biggest turnout.

LD-21 Assembly

Republican

Munoz and Matsikoudis saw strong support across every LD-21 town in Union County. From Berkeley Heights to New Providence, Summit, and Westfield, Republican turnout was high across the board—by mail, early, and on Election Day.

In some towns, Republicans made up more than 60% of the total ballots cast. That edge carried down the ballot, with Munoz and Matsikoudis receiving some of the highest raw vote totals in their respective races. Their support wasn’t just deep—it was geographically widespread. Every LD-21 municipality in Union County leaned their way, often by wide margins.

Democratic

Vincent M. Kearney and Andrew Macurdy ran unopposed for the Democratic nominations. Voter turnout on the Democratic side was low across LD-21. In towns like Summit, Westfield, and New Providence, Democratic participation was noticeably outpaced by Republican voters.

There wasn’t much energy around the Democratic ticket. No competition, no visible push, and very little to suggest these races were on voters’ radar. Even in areas that have leaned more Democratic in recent general elections, like Westfield, this primary didn’t generate much interest.

Update (06/18/2025 ~ 11;38am): It appears the header image has created some confusion.  The heat map is accurate however it was meant to be a cosmetic header, not a comprehensive snapshot of Union County- it does not include every town.  Here is a more comprehensive (and useful) graph:

Source Documentation

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