Where do I vote? Your NJ town may have been split into 2 districts

TRENTON – Sixteen municipalities in New Jersey are split between two congressional districts on the map being used in the elections from 2022 through 2030, including the important midterm elections this fall to determine the balance of power in Washington.

Every congressional district contains at least one split municipality that it shares with another district.

That’s sort of inevitable because the rules of congressional redistricting require that districts be as precisely even in population as possible – even though that requires breaking some cities and towns into multiple districts.

That same rule doesn’t apply when redrawing state legislative districts. Their populations must be close but can vary within an allowable range of 5%. The only municipalities that can be split are those that are too large to fit in one district – Newark and Jersey City.

Here is the breakdown of the municipalities divided between districts, including maps:

Seven counties are entirely in a single congressional district – including Camden County, where its 525,000 residents are all in the 1st District. The others are Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Hunterdon, Salem and Warren counties.

Bergen, Burlington, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Ocean, Somerset and Sussex are split into two congressional districts. Essex, Hudson, Monmouth and Passaic have municipalities in three districts. Union County, despite being the 7th most populous county, is split the most ways – into four districts.

On the new congressional map, accounting for the reallocation of state inmates to their hometowns, the ideal population size is 773,585 – and all 12 districts are within one person of that target.

Three districts contain just one split municipality: CD1, CD3 and CD5. One district, CD6, has two split municipalities. Five districts include portions of three municipalities: CD2, CD8, CD9, CD11 and CD12. And three districts share a portion of four municipalities with a neighbor: CD4, CD7 and CD10.

Michael Symons is the Statehouse bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com

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