Decrease in Voter Turnout Mirrors Statewide Trend

More Verona and Cedar Grove residents voted in the 2008 presidential election than voted in Tuesday's presidential election, according to documents from each municipal clerk's office.

In the week prior to the election, Hurricane Sandy ravaged New Jersey causing widespread power outages and gas shortages. As a result, many residents were displaced causing a number of issues with electronic ballots, including deadline extensions.

The towns are not alone in the decrease in voters and New Jersey may have hit a record-low voter turnout, according to a report by NJ.com

On Tuesday, 6,827 Verona voters went to the polls, out of 10,394 registered voters in the township. This means that 65.7 percent of the eligible voters actually cast their votes in the election.

In 2008, 7,515 Verona residents voted in the presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain in which there were 9,540 registered voters. 78 percent of voters went to the polls.

Although the number of registered voters increased by 854 between 2008 and 2012, the most recent election actually had a decrease of 688 voters.

On Tuesday in Cedar Grove, 5,792 voters showed up at the polls out of the 8,963 registered Cedar Grove voters, or 64.6 percent, according to documents from the Cedar Grove Municipal Clerk's Office.

In 2008, 6,194 Cedar Grove residents went to the polls to cast their vote. At the time, there were 8,502 eligible voters. This means that Cedar Grove had a 72.8 percent voter turnout in 2008 compared to the 64.6 percent in 2012.

Verona

Cedar Grove