N.J. votes in general election

New Jersey residents who vote in todays primary election are given stickers as they leave the voting booth.

(Robert Sciarrino/NJ Advance Media)

TRENTON -- While registered Democrats and Republicans can only vote in their party's primary on Tuesday, New Jersey's 2.6 million unaffiliated voters are not left out of the process.

"Voters who are unaffiliated can go in, declare a party, and then vote in that primary," said Tori Symonds, a spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who as Secretary of State oversees the state's Division of Elections.

Simply put, voters who are currently registered as unaffiliated are exempt from the deadline, which has already passed, for a voter to change from Republican to Democrat or from Democrat to Republican to vote in the primary.

An unaffiliated voter can walk into their polling station Tuesday and request a Republican or Democratic ballot and then cast their vote.

However, there's one caveat.

"But then that person is registered under that party affiliation," Symonds said.

So if you vote in the Democratic Primary, you're now a registered Democrat.

But an unaffiliated voter who declares a party by voting in the primary can return to their unaffiliated status after the primary by re-registering as an unaffiliated voter.

There are more voters registered as unaffiliated than are Republicans or Democrats.

New Jersey has 1.8 million Democrats and 1.1 million Republicans, according to state data released in April.

New Jerseyans can check whether they're registered to vote at the Department of State's Division of Elections website. If voters want to look up their party affiliation, they can create a free online account with the Division of Election that allows them to access their detailed voting information.

Below is where you can find your local polling location.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.