On Nov. 2, New Jersey voters will cast ballots in a gubernatorial election, as well as for all 120 state Senate and Assembly committee seats.

Plus there is a statewide ballot question on another issue: whether to expand legal sports betting to athletic contests involving New Jersey universities, and to any college event held in New Jersey such as a football bowl game or March Madness basketball.

And while former state Senator Ray Lesniak of Union County — who spearheaded the quixotic vote a decade ago to allow for sports gambling at state racetracks and Atlantic City casinos — usually is known as an optimist, he has a different sentiment about this vote.