The polls are open!
No, not another gubernatorial race, something more important - our search for N.J.'s best bakery.
We've picked N.J's best bar, best burger, best Italian restaurant, best ice cream shop, best diner, best sub/hoagie shop and best pizzeria, now it's time to pick the state's best bakery.
There's nothing like one of our N.J.'s best showdowns. We don't mess around. First, we solicit nominations from readers, who tell us why their favorite place is the best. Then it's time to vote, which is what you can do starting right now.
Every bakery that was nominated - in our call for nominations story, on nj.com's Facebook page, by e-mail and on Twitter - appears on the ballot. A total of 362 bakeries were nominated. Did we miss someone? Let me know immediately, make a case for it, and we'll add them.
We've divided your nominations into four regional categories -- North, Central and South Jersey, plus the Shore. The top six vote-getters in each category, plus 26 of my selections, will comprise the 50 semi-finalists I will visit starting November 22.
Don't get hung up, as I know some will, on the geographic breakdown. If you don't find your favorite bakery where you think it should be, go to the next logical region. The breakdown is not perfect, but it's better than drawing silly jagged lines and borders and having people trying to figure out which region their favorite bakery is in.
And this is not about the best bakery in each region, it's about who's best in the state, so the geographic breakdowns don't really matter anyway.
The easiest way to get your favorite into the next round is to vote for it. You can vote once in each category every day. The deadline for voting is 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19.
Here are links to all four categories:
North Jersey
Central Jersey
South Jersey
Jersey Shore
Peter Genovese may be reached at pgenovese@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PeteGenovese or via The Munchmobile @NJ_Munchmobile. Find the Munchmobile on Facebook and Instagram.