On Tuesday morning, a voter left the Donnelly Homes housing project community room polling station in Trenton. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media on NJ.com

Michele Leahing became a citizen in September, this is the first time he has voted in the US general election.

Leahing, a Jamaican immigrant, said as he left the polling station outside the Christopher Hope community center in Paterson, it was “a bit surreal”. "If you don't vote, you have no right to speak. I believe in democracy."

For 63-year-old Phil Johnson, this is a familiar routine. "I am a consistent voter," the Patterson resident said. "Since I grew up to vote, I haven't missed a year."

Johnson said that the most important thing is that people understand why they vote.

"You won't enter a polling station, you just need to pull a lever. You have to know. I walked in confidently, and I chose someone I believe in. That's how it is," he said.

After last year's COVID-19 restrictions restricted most of them to absentee ballots, voters across New Jersey returned to polling stations on Tuesday to make a choice for governor. For some people, voting is more chaotic than usual, and some counties have introduced new technologies that eliminated the use of more familiar voting machines and electronic signature verification screens. The shortage of election staff will not help either.

Related: Everything you need to know about Tuesday’s major election in New Jersey, including the fierce governor race

As usual, there are some places where voting started late-including Patterson, where the voting that was originally scheduled to start at 6 am was postponed for about an hour because the power problem was finally resolved at 7 am

In Bernardsville, a voter said that the new machine in District 7 had broken down and the voter was turned away.

In Monmouth County, a stable group of voters arrived at Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School at around 8:30 on Tuesday morning and voted in a gym that distanced themselves from society. After registering voters, voting staff provided one-on-one lessons on how to use the new touch screen voting machine. There is no real line, and people get in and out quickly.

This is the first year that New Jersey has voted in person in advance. 207,863 residents took advantage of the 9-day window before election day, where they were able to vote on machines in centralized polling stations in their county. Monday, the day after the early voting period ends. State officials said that about 3.2% of the state's more than 6.5 million registered voters chose to vote early.

In Jersey City, Damon Callahan said on Tuesday that he had considered voting by mail, but it was too late to vote in this way. "I live near the school," he said outside Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Jersey City, where he voted.

The traffic at the polling station in Jersey City Heights D was light in the early morning, but it picked up slightly after 9 a.m. Some voters came directly to the school from the morning Mass at St. Paul’s Church in St. Paul’s Church across the street from Hancock Avenue. Voters received new touch-screen tablets to sign their names instead of the cumbersome register of the past.

Despite the fierce competition between the mayor and the city council, the majority of voters interviewed stated that they came out to run for the governor.

Although the governor’s campaign is the most important to Brian O'Toole, he said the same is true for the Jersey City mayor’s campaign, and Lewis Spears, the coordinator of the Hudson County Youth Services Commission, is challenging the two-term current city. Long Steve Flopp.

"I always vote in elections. We lost a great man of our local MP Michael Yun in the pandemic," he said. "He is an independent person. I hope we can find a good person to replace Michael, otherwise it will be the mayor's list."

Voting by mail is not an option for O'Toole. He said he prefers to vote in person.

"Maybe they should consider making (election day) a holiday in New Jersey, and maybe even paying people to vote," he said. "Because of the so-called inconsistency, taxpayers' money is now being spent, and we know this has not happened."

Another Jersey City voter, James Ruggia, cited the January 6 rebellion in the Washington, DC capital as another reason to vote. "I have been to countries where there is no politics, such as China. Politics is annoying, but it is a wonderful thing," he said.

Andrew Erwin took his son to an early citizenship course.

"I just like the civic experience and it feels good," said Irving from outside McAuliffe School. "I just want to vote for all the candidates I support."

Electronic polls during voting at the Raritan Town Municipal Building in Flemington on Election Day. Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media at NJ.com

According to a survey of registered voters released by the Eagleton Public Interest Voting Center at Rutgers University, New Brunswick on Monday, nearly a quarter of the respondents are not particularly obsessed with the governor candidate-the Democratic governor. Phil Murphy and Republican challenger Jack Catarelli-and not necessarily voting for the candidate, but for opposing another person. Another 18% voted strictly according to the party line.

But many people who voted on Tuesday morning were very open to candidates who supported them.

"I like Governor Murphy. I like the fact that he seems to be alone. I like that of him," Cynthia Johnson said after voting at the Christopher Hope Community Center in Patterson.

In the Roman Catholic Church in North Caldwell, a polling station in the Borough of Essex, COVID-19 and taxes are decisive issues for many voters. Pat Conforti said he voted for "Jack".

Conforti said that he had met Ciattarelli several times. "I got a sense of honesty from him," he said.

The voting will last until 8 o'clock tonight.

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Ted Sherman, Steve Strensky and Karin Price Muller contributed to this report.

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