Tuesday is Election Day in New Jersey – the first state legislative primary date of the 2023 election cycle, with the entire Senate Legislature atop the ballot.

Locally, other than the Toms River mayoral primary and an open Township committee seat in Lakewood, there are very few competitive races on the ballot across Ocean County.

Below is a brief overview of what voters will see on the ballot when voting on Tuesday:

Lakewood:

In Lakewood, which is in the solidly Republican 30th Legislative District, incumbents state Senator Bob Singer, Assemblymen Sean Kean and Ned Thomson are not facing any primary challengers.

On the Democratic side, Stephen Dobbins is seeking the nomination to challenge Senator Singer, while Sal Frascino and Marta Harrison, a former Lakewood Mayor, are running for the Assembly seats.

On the county level, three candidates, Republicans Frank Sadaghi and Frank Quinn and Democrat Roxanne Barnes, are running for the seat being vacated by longtime commissioner Joe Vicari, who is retiring after 43 years of service.

And on the local level, voters will elect two members to the Township Committee: One for the seat being vacated by Mike D’Elia and Mayor Ray Coles will be running for re-election as well.

On the Republican side, the candidates are Bruce Stern and Deborah Fuentes while Jimmy Esposito is the Democrat running with Mayor Coles.

Toms River:

In Toms River, which is in the 10th Legislative District, appearing on top of the ballot is incumbent state Senator James Holzapfel.

Running for the Assembly seats in the solidly Republican district is incumbent Assemblyman Gregory McGuckin, who is joined by Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra, who is seeking the seat currently held by Assemblyman John Catalano.

Catalano announced earlier this year that he is leaving the Assembly to run mayor in Brick Township, which is now open after former mayor John Ducey resigned to become a judge.

On the municipal level, the mayoral race is garnering lots of attention, as incumbent Mayor Mo Hill is facing a tough challenge from councilman Daniel Rodrick.

Also appearing on the Republican ballot for mayor are Geri Ambrosio and Robert Bianchini.

Hill, who is seeking a second four-year term, is running alongside Kevin Geoghegan, Joshua Kopp, and Matthew Lotano, all who are seeking re-election to their at-large council seats.

Ambrosio’s running mates are Garry Mundy, Norvella Lightbody and Sergio Fossa.

Rodrick’s running mates are Thomas Nivinson, Lynn O’Toole, and Craig Coleman.

On the Democrat side, just one candidate, John Furey is running for the Democratic mayoral nomination.

His slate of council candidates includes Michele Williams, Rhetta Jackson-Fair and Kajal Lal.

Jackson:

Topping the ballot in Jackson, which is situated in the 12th Legislative District, is a new face, as Old Bridge Mayor Owen Henry is seeking the Republican nomination to replace longtime Senator Sam Thompson, who earlier this year, in a shocking move, switched parties and became a Democrat, before later announcing that he will not seek re-election at all.

While most legislative seats are unopposed, there are some hard-fought contests throughout the state, and local and county nominations are up for grabs, as well.

Henry will be running alongside incumbent Assemblymen Rob Clifton and former Jackson Councilman Alex Sauickie, who is now seeking his first full term in office after being chosen to replace the late Ronald Dancer.

There are no local races this year in Jackson.

Statewide:

Although all 40 seats in the Senate and 80 seats in the Assembly are up for re-election, most are unopposed, leading to a mostly quiet election season.

However, there are some races garnering some attention.

In the state’s 3rd Legislative District, where Republican Ed Durr ousted powerful Democrat Steve Sweeney two years ago in a shocking upset, he now faces faces a challenge from Beth Sawyer, a current assemblywoman and his 2021 running mate.

In the 27th district, two longtime senators – Richard Codey and Nia Gill – are facing off against each other after redistricting forced them in to the same district.

Codey, who previously served a short stint as governor, is the favorite to win.

What else to know:

Democrats currently have a 45-34 majority in the General Assembly, with one vacancy, and a 25-15 majority in the Senate.

New Jersey Assembly members serve two-year terms, with all seats up for election every two years. New Jersey Senators serve four-year terms, except in the first term of a new decade (like the current one), which only lasts for two years.

New Jersey primary races are semi-closed, which means a a voter generally must be registered as a party member in order to participate in that party’s primary.

An unaffiliated voter can participate in a party’s primary if they affiliate with a party on the day of the election.

Winners in New Jersey primaries are determined via plurality vote, meaning that the candidate with the most votes wins even if they did not win more than 50 percent of votes cast. There are no runoffs.

The general election for all the seats up for election tomorrow is November 7.

Polls across the state open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. for in-person voting.

Anyone with a mail-in ballot must get it postmarked Tuesday, June 6, or put it in one of the designated drop boxes before polls close