Legislative leaders commit to ‘a public process’ on New Jersey ballot design

New Jersey’s legislative leaders said they have the authority to rework New Jersey’s county-line ballots in a statement issued one day after a federal judge signaled skepticism to clerks’ arguments that a move to another kind of ballot before June’s primary is impractical.

“As many involved in the legal process have pointed out, there is longstanding precedent that the Legislature has the authority to determine the law regarding ballot design and the appropriate discretion used by county clerks. Accordingly, the proper authority to consider modifications is the Legislature,” majority and minority leaders from both chambers said in a rare joint statement Tuesday.

Opponents of New Jersey’s county-line ballots — an only-in-Jersey design that groups candidates for multiple offices by slogans in a single column or row — say the practice lends party-backed candidates an improper advantage at the ballot box.

Rep. Andy Kim (D-03) and two congressional candidates have sued clerks in 19 of New Jersey’s 21 counties, alleging the ballot design violates multiple constitutional protections and seeking to bar the design’s use in June’s primaries. Kim is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in June against three others, including chief rival first lady Tammy Murphy.

The statement by Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex), Senate Minority Leader Tony Bucco (R-Morris), and Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio (R-Warren) provided no indication of what sorts of changes they would seek.

“We are committed to beginning a public process on ballot design in New Jersey, including a thorough and thoughtful review of other states, as well as a process that involves input from the public,” they said.

Some opponents of the county line immediately signaled skepticism, worrying legislative leaders may seek changes that keep some powers entrenched with party organizations or their chairs. Scutari is also Union County’s Democratic chairman.

“If they want to end the line, great — end the line,” said Henal Patel, law and policy director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. “The letter yesterday doesn’t seem like they’re quite there yet, or at all, which is concerning, and it’s frankly not, I think, where the public is right now.”

Patel is counsel for several groups, including the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, that oppose the line and have joined the case as friends of the court.

She added that the timing of the leaders’ statement raises eyebrows, noting a separate and substantially similar challenge to the county line in another federal case that has been ongoing for four years without lawmakers’ intervention.

“They never had to wait for a court case to resolve for us to get rid of the line. The New Jersey Legislature always had the ability to do that,” Patel said. “It’s, to put it mildly, fascinating that they are doing it right now at the eve of this court case that is moving very quickly for a reason.”

At a hearing on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi appeared skeptical of clerks’ defenses of the line, questioning the candor of clerks and a printing house vendor who claimed a court order to move to a different kind of ballot would create chaos. Kim allies have argued in favor of office-block ballots, which group candidates by the office they’re seeking.

That hearing followed a letter from Attorney General Matt Platkin, who said he would not join the suit to defend New Jersey’s ballot design because it is unconstitutional. Platkin did not join the case, and the parties are to submit arguments by Friday on whether Quraishi should consider Platkin’s opinion. The judge on Monday criticized Platkin for “lobbing his opinion from the cheap seats” by filing the letter without seeking to intervene in the case.

The legislative leaders’ statement isn’t likely to save the county line if Quraishi finds merit in Kim’s arguments on constitutionality.

Though legislative leaders noted New Jersey’s ballot design has withstood challenges before the state Supreme Court, federal courts are not bound by the decisions of state courts on federal questions.

If the judge finds Kim and his fellow plaintiffs are harmed by the line, as they have charged, such harm would not be addressed by ballot changes that are unlikely to be in place in time for the primary.