Turnout is good. That’s what we’ve been hearing all day.

So what does it mean? No one really knows, but anyone can guess.

Bob Hugin did that Monday when he suggested (perhaps tongue in cheek) that rainy weather would be good for him, because it may keep Democrats at home.

Bob Menendez responded with the requisite righteous indignation.

As it happens, I was in the Morris County Board of Elections office this afternoon when a Republican election challenger essentially echoed Hugin’s comments.

While turnout was high in suburban and affluent Morris, the challenger theorized that the bad weather would depress turnout in the inner-cities.

Why?  His take was that many inner-city residents lack cars and may not leave their homes every day as a matter of course. So if the weather is bad, they don’t come out to vote.

This seems a bit far-fetched, or even offensive. It’s really hard to believe that inner-city residents fear the rain more than their suburban counterparts. And why would they not leave the house?

Even if they are without cars, most polling places are nearby. When I was growing up in Union City, for instance, my polling place was two blocks from my house. Barring a monsoon, that’s an easy walk.

Speaking of Union City, it was interesting to read that Mayor Brian Stack’s team purchased umbrellas for canvassers to use in their election day push. There was also news today that turnout in Newark was robust.

Anecdotal evidence indicated it was good everywhere.

In fact, it may be too good for some. The Morris County Republican Committee sent out a panicky email this morning with the subject line, “It’s 9:15 a.m. and Democratic turnout is heavy throughout the county.”  It urged all receiving it to get their Republican friends to vote. This simply could have been a way to rev up the troops. Or it could spell real trouble.

In Roxbury Township, where I voted, a poll worker said turnout was like a presidential election.
One of those at the polls was township councilman Daniel Kline, who had just come from Kennedy School, another polling place in town.

“I’ve never seen Kennedy so packed,” he said.

Miles away in Montclair, a small squadron of reporters was on hand to watch Mikie Sherrill cast her ballot. After she left, an election judge said that in one voting district they already had about 175 voters. This was at 10:30  a.m. He said that in the last presidential election, there were about 350 votes in the district  – total.

Back in the Morris County Board of Elections office, a Democratic challenger from Hanover said that in the township’s Whippany section, “They’re doing a hundred voters an hour.”

A huge turnout in Hanover Township may be relevant in the CD-11 race. At a Jay Webber rally Monday night, Mayor Ronald Francioli boasted that in Hanover there are four Republicans for every one Democrat.

So a big turnout is destined to help Webber.

Unless, of course, Francioli is exaggerating.