Lawmakers want to revamp primary ballots. One critic called the plan “a step back for democracy in New Jersey.” (Photo by Jennifer Peacock | Assembly Republican Office)
Lawmakers on a Senate panel on Thursday unanimously approved a bill to codify changes to New Jersey’s ballot design over the opposition of more than a dozen witnesses.
The bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee would require New Jersey ballots to organize candidates by office sought — eliminating the controversial and potentially unconstitutional ballot design known as the county line — and would end elections for state party officials.
Critics opposed provisions that would allow candidates running on a slate to have their ballot positions drawn together, warned alphanumerical markers proposed by the bill could be abused, and repeated calls for randomized electronic ballot draws to replace draws conducted now by hand.
“The bill is not a simple technical change. It is a step back for democracy in New Jersey,” Jocelyn Wallace told the committee.
The move follows a March 2024 order issued by U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi that found New Jersey’s system of county-line ballots, which grouped party-endorsed candidates for separate offices into a single row or column, is likely unconstitutional. Critics of the county line said it gave party-backed candidates an insurmountable advantage over insurgent challengers.
The Assembly in December gave overwhelming approval to a similar bill. Like the Assembly bill, the Senate’s measure would allow candidates running as a group to have their ballot positions determined by a single draw, rather than multiple individual draws. Multiple witnesses said Thursday that lawmakers should remove that provision, saying it would disadvantage candidates seeking office on their own.
“This unfair choice — either associate with others or stand alone — creates an optical disadvantage for those who run independent,” said Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, a Democrat who is seeking an Assembly seat this year.
Others railed against new provisions that would label candidates with markings based on their ballot position — 1A for a candidate drawn to be first on the ballot among their opponents, for example. Most critics said the markings would serve no purpose other than to clutter the ballot and allow campaigning divorced from the actual candidate.
“It’s not a lottery ticket, right? We’re not giving people their locker combination. We need people to campaign based on the individuals and the office they’re seeking. We should not have numbers on the ballot. It’s completely extraneous,” said Kate Delaney, president of South Jersey Progressive Democrats.
Others alleged these markings would enable clerks to maintain a form of the county line by manipulating ballot draws.
In New Jersey, ballot positions are hand-drawn by county clerks, and such draws are sometimes less than random. Neither chamber has taken up advocates’ suggestion to require randomized electronic ballot draws and rotating ballot positions.
The committee began taking testimony on the ballot design bill more than four hours after its scheduled start time and after two separate recesses. A number of witnesses had already left when they were called to testify.
The Senate’s bill — and the amendments the panel made to the Assembly bill — would remove primary elections for members of the Democratic and Republican state committees, handing their elections over to partisan county committee members.
“Even if there’s no ill intent, this leaves the public asking why,” said Jesse Burns, executive director of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, adding, “This feels a little bit like a bait and switch.”
The Senate bill maintains language that would bar candidates from using a slogan that includes the name of a candidate for a separate office. This provision is broadly viewed as targeting Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat running for governor this year who is recruiting a slate of Assembly candidates. Under the bill, those candidates would not be able to use Fulop’s name in their slogans.
Another controversial provision in both bills would allow the secretary of state to bar multiple candidates from using similar slogans. Neither chamber’s bill makes clear how the secretary of state would determine whose slogan to invalidate when two slogans are similar, though both versions would allow for candidates whose slogans are denied to challenge the decision in Superior Court.
Another stopgap on legal notices
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved separate legislation that would allow New Jersey municipalities and counties to print legal notices in digital editions of newspapers — rather than only in physical ones — through June 30.
The measure would also require media outlets that publish public notices to disclose data regarding subscribers, page views, and sales to the state.
The measure is the latest to attempt to conform public notices required by the state’s Open Public Meetings Act with an increasingly bare print media landscape. Towns and counties have worried they may be unable to comply with the sunshine law as print circulation declines or ceases altogether.
Though concern over the future of legal notices has simmered for years, it boiled over in October after the owner of the Star-Ledger said it would stop printing it and other papers it owns. The Star-Ledger’s last print edition was published on Feb. 2, meaning many towns in New Jersey no longer have a daily newspaper that would publish their legal notices.
In December, lawmakers passed and Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation that allows local governments to print legal notices in digital newspapers, but that allowance is due to expire on March 1, and lawmakers have yet to reach a more permanent solution on digital notices.
More early voting
The committee on Thursday approved a separate bill that would expand early voting in New Jersey’s primaries to six days.
The bill comes as the state prepares to elect a new governor, with six Democrats and at least five Republicans vying for their party’s nomination in the June primaries.
Presently, New Jersey’s primary early-voting period runs for three days in years without a presidential election, from the Friday before Election Day to the Sunday before Election Day. In years with a presidential election, early voting begins the Wednesday before Election Day.
The bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Brian Stack (D-Hudson), would make early voting run from the Wednesday before Election Day to the Sunday before Election Day regardless of who’s on the ballot.
As introduced, the bill would have allowed 10 days of early voting but was amended Thursday to only allow for six.
Nearly 1.2 million New Jerseyans cast early in-person ballots in 2024’s general election.
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