this off-year election is considered the midterm for governor Murphy's second and final term in office despite that turnout is expected to be low analysts are expecting numbers to mirror legislative races held in 2019 where just 27% of the electorate cast a ballot Raven Santana is in Central Jersey where another key legislative race has been heating up and asked voters what's driving them to the polls for the past several years we've all been shouting at the top of our lungs this needs to change so the only way these changes can occur is if people come out and cast their votes Flemington resident Mary Beth Walsh was just one of a handful of people that headed to the township of Ron's Municipal Court to cast her vote despite there being no presidential Governor or mayoral races on the ballot this election day locally there are high-profile elections on the top of the ballot that have motivated both Republican and Democratic residents to come out and vote I have an 18-month old so that's really important to me these days locally I'd like the teachers to keep their opinions out of the classroom was a big thing to me you know one of the um red herrings out there you know is the um um Women's Health I'll just as a broad spectrum which affects children and I'm really Disturbed that there are people out there who are very ill informed about what it means to protect Women's Health that they're willing to put women's lives in danger because of a medical necessary medical procedures in fact I understand their personal positions but the whole point of the United States is for you to make choices for you and your family don't make them for mine still with so many hot button issues this election the voter turnout here in Ron Township was disappointing for some do you think there's going to be a big turnout today yeah I would love to say yes cuz we've been canvasing and we've been encouraging people but no it's it's just an off year and I don't know what's wrong with people why they're just not out there to vote I mean cherish and love and and use that right about 40 minutes away in Princeton voters echoed the same sentiments and this is our second time here in that we got some papers that we were just uh returning uh and it was not terribly crowded and I have no idea whether uh there's been a big turnout I was encouraged by the number of cars but that may be for something else in this case are the city uh or Town Council Municipal Council you know what the the decisions they make have an effect on a lot and ultimately that works up to the top too so officials in Princeton admitted that despite three different ways to vote in person early by mail or in person on Election Day voter turnout remained low the voter turnout has been I would not say very high but average we have about 15,23 voters as of right now uh which is um and that would just be voting today we had another 16,000 people vote through uh vote by mail that have been returned so far so that is uh probably on the lower side so when we get 16,000 back it's not a bad turnout not a bad return it's almost you know half it's close to it so um we did well with that and I would say that early voting was our lowest and it seems to be that way all over the state unfortunately um it's still not known I'm kind of slowly but surely kind of losing faith just in the um election uh process uh due to just being disappointed with uh promises that were made that end up not being made still despite your frustrations or concerns almost everyone I spoke with agreed the best way to change anything is to go out and vote and you still have time to do so up until 8:00 p.m. for NJ Spotlight News I'm Raven Santana [Music] [Music]