6 events in Passaic County with a date

Assembly panel meets on redesign of ballot

'County line' format challenged in court

By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... After a federal lawsuit was brought by Representative Andy Kim as part of his effort to run for U.S. Senate, state legislative leaders pledged to consider redesigning New Jersey's ballots. that process began Tuesday [10/29/2024] as the Assembly Select Committee on Ballot Design met for the first time.
..... Billed as a time for the lower house committee to receive testimony form invited guests, including the National conference of State Legislatures and New Jersey election officials, on ballot design, ballot accessibility and election infrastructure, the meeting was the first in a series to discuss what would be an appropriate ballot design.
..... The meeting - which lasted more than three hours - included expert testimony on how other states design their ballots and highlighted areas were voter education efforts would benefit New Jersey residents.
..... Wendy Underhill who leads a team of analysts focused on election policy for the National Conference of State Legislatures, spoke about the importance of ballot order and said there are different ways the order can be selected be it alphabetical order can be selected.
..... She also highlighted ways to discourage a multitude of candidates, such as increasing the number of petitions required.
..... Election officials form Burlington, Cape May, Essex, Hunterdon, Passaic and Someset counties also testified. They spoke about how ballot designs have worked and what has worked in the past, before fielding questions from the committee for nearly an hour on topics ranging form the number and cost of machines to the timeline for sending vote-by-mail and sample ballots to voters.
..... Although Kim was on hand and acknowledge by the committee, he was not given the opportunity to testify but was instead told to plan to speak at a future hearing
..... Kim has said he feels that the Legislature's efforts to wade into ballot design are unnecessary given the impact of his lawsuit.
..... The co-chairs made it clear that this meeting was to help them educate themselves on the ballot design, including the technology needed to implement any changes.

What is the state Senate doing about ballot design?

..... There is no such meeting in the works in the upper chamber, though, said senate President Nick Scutari.
..... He went on to say his "gustimate" is that legislation on primary ballot design in the state would be "some measure of office block balloting with some hopeful statewide guidelines that all of the counties are very similar if not identical."
..... In March, [2024] Scutari, Assembly Craig Coughlin, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco and Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio issued a statement saying they were open to redesigning New Jersey ballots that give preferential position to candidates supported by county political machines.
..... They said they have "listened to the public debate" about the ballot design and there is a "longstanding precedent that the Legislature has the authority to sign and the appropriate discretion used by county clerks."
..... "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," the statement said.
..... Though the committee co-chairs said the lawsuit wasn't the sole reason for the meeting, Kim's initial suit was field in February [2024] in m U.S. district Court in Trenton and challenged the so-called "county line," the longstanding New Jersey ballot design that gave preferential placement to candidates backed by county political organizations.

What is the status of Representative Andy Kim's lawsuit?

..... On March 29, [2024] U.S. District Judge Zahid Quiraishi8 ordered that the June Democratic primary use office-block-style ballots instead.
..... All 49 other states and two New Jersey counties already sue the office block style.
..... Salem and Sussex, counties do not use the county line design.
..... That order was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia.
..... In his preliminary opinion. Quraishi said he "recognized the magnitude" of the decision and that the "integrity of the democratic process for a primary election is at stake."
..... Of the 19 county initially named as defendants, 10 have settled. they are the clerks form Atlantic, Burlington, Cumberlnad, Essex, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset and Warren counties.
..... Those county clerks agreed no longer to use ballots that are designed by columns or rows rather than organized by the office sought.
..... Instead, they will use a separate drawing for every office and candidate, "where every candidate running for the same office has an equal chance at the first ballot position."
..... The agreements not that they would be nullified if the legislature :passes new legislation that supersedes, amends or replaces the statutory provisions hat are the subject of this litigation, such that compliance with such new legislation and terms of this order would be impossible."
..... A hearing for the remaining county clerks will be held Thursday [11/07/2024] morning.

..... Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. email: sobko@northjersey.com.

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