The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission disbursed more than $1.6 million to gubernatorial nominees in the latest round of public matching funds.
ELEC gave Democrat Mikie Sherrill $80,619 and Republican Jack Ciattarelli $852,034 in the latest round of matching funds.
Ciattarelli announced last week that he had raised the $6.4 million needed to qualify for the full $12.5 million in matching funds. Sherrill has not announced her fundraising numbers.
With today’s distribution, ELEC has set $10,533,175 to Sherrill, about 84% of the cap, and $9,630,546 to Ciattarelli, about 77% of the cap.
General election candidates may receive up to $12.5 million in public funds in a $2-for-$1 match system. Participation in the program comes with an $18.5 million spending cap, though super PACs and independent expenditures can continue spending to support their favored candidate.
Sherrill and Ciattarelli were the only candidates to qualify. A third-party candidate would have had to raise $580,000 by Sept. 2 to qualify.
ELEC distributed over $37.5 million in matching funds in the primary election, a record-setting sum.
Mail-in voting started earlier this month — more than 138,000 New Jerseyans have cast their ballots, according to VoteHub.
