How Did Passaic County Vote For Marijuana Legalization?

WAYNE, NJ — New Jersey voters showed up in a big way for marijuana legalization during the General Election.

The Associated Press made the call on Tuesday, announcing the state passed Ballot Question 1, voting to legalize adult-use cannabis by a huge margin.

READ MORE: NJ Legalizes Recreational Marijuana: AP

With 4531 of 6348 precincts reporting as of 1:30 p.m. Friday, nearly 2 million New Jersey residents cast their ballots in favor of the measure.

But what about in Passaic County?

According to unofficial election results from the county, more residents voted for the measure than against.

Here are the latest numbers:

• Yes — 82,325
• No — 48,161

More than half of the ballots cast during the General Election are left to be counted, according to the latest update from Passaic County.

The county reports 140,744 mail-in ballots as of Friday afternoon, in addition to just 242 ballots cast on election day, a total of just 43 percent of the vote.

In a Wednesday email to Patch, Passaic County Clerk Danielle Ireland-Imhoff didn't provide an estimate of when a final vote count can be expected, or how many votes are outstanding.

Rather, she included general language from the county that vote totals would be updated as they become available, which was also published on the county website.

"Due to the high volume of mail-in ballots cast in the primarily vote-by-mail November 3, 2020 General Election, the mail-in ballot count will continue after Election Day. The County Clerk’s Office will be posting unofficial election results on our website as they become available and these results will be updated on a continual basis. Ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by November 10, 2020 will be included as the tallies are updated. Election results will include tallies from votes that were cast on ADA-accessible voting devices on Election Day.

Please note that pursuant to State law, paper provisional ballots will be verified for eligibility by the County Commissioner of Registration, then, counted by the County Board of Elections. Provisional ballots will not be counted until the mail-in ballot count is complete, which will be no earlier than November 10, 2020."