The nominees this year include former Vice President Aaron Burr, former President Grover Cleveland and early women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the historical category.
Salsa singer Celia Cruz, "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve and jazz trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie are among the nominees in Arts & Entertainment.
The Enterprise category includes chef Alice Waters, electronic communications inventor David Sarnoff and newspaper publisher Samuel I. Newhouse.
The Sports category includes Bill Parcells, who coached the New York Giants and Jets, Wellington Mara, who owned the Giants, and broadcasting icon Dick Vitale.
Alexander Calder, the artist who invented the mobile, writer Joyce Carol Oates and cartoonist Charles Addams, who inspired The Addams Family, are included in the General category.
Voters have till January to go online to choose their favorites from five categories. The web address is www.NJHallofFame.org.
The nominees are for the hall's fifth class. It's the most
nominees ever, in part because residents have suggested "so many remarkable individuals over the past 12 months," said John O'Brien, who chairs the group's voting committee.
The top vote-getter in each category will be inducted into the hall in June. The top runners-up will also be chosen for induction, said Don Jay Smith, spokesman for the hall.
The hall celebrates New Jersey history by honoring its many talented residents and former residents.
Gov. Chris Christie is scheduled to announce the new class in January.
Previous inductees have included Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson, rock musician Bruce Springsteen, actor Jack Nicholson and Olympian Carl Lewis.
The hall, which is funded privately and exists virtually, now has its first exhibit on the boardwalk at Asbury Park. Items on display include Jack Nicholson's second-grade report card and an Edison High School cheering jacket that once belonged to inductee Susan Sarandon.
A mobile museum is planned, and will take traveling exhibits to schools and communities around the state.
