Photo: AFP
In addition to casting ballots for governor of New Jersey and the next mayor of New York City, voters in the Garden State and the Empire State also decided several key questions about redistricting, clean air and water, sports betting, nonprofit gambling and more.
With results not yet final, here's where voters were leaning as of Wednesday morning.
New Jersey had two ballot proposals. One regarding expanding sports betting to include college athletics and another asking whether organizations could use raffles and other games of chance as fundraisers. (Currently, only veterans and senior citizen groups are allowed to use proceeds from raffles to support their organizations.)
Early results suggested Garden State voters said 'No' to expanding sports betting and overwhelmingly 'yes' to allowing more groups to use proceeds from games of chance as fundraisers.
New Yorkers decided whether to make pandemic-related changes to voting access in the state permanent.
Another would repeal a constitutional amendment requiring voters to register to vote at least 10 days before an election, thereby allowing voters to register and vote on the same day. (Same day voting is legal in 20 states.)
A third proposed constitutional amendment would affect the process for drawing district lines for U.S House and state legislative chambers based on 2020 census data.
Results for each of those New York questions were still not clear by Wednesday morning.
New York voters, however, overwhelming voted 'Yes' to a measure to create a constitutional right to "clean air and water" and "a healthful environment" in the Empire State. The measure harkens back to the '70s environmental movement when Illinois and later Pennsylvania adopted constitutional duties to maintain clean air and pure drinking waters. Other states, including Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana and Rhode Island have similar amendments to their respective constitutions.