The New Jersey Senate introduced a ballot redesign bill on Thursday that critics claim undermines efforts to create a fairer voting process.
Lawmakers are revising the ballot rules after a federal judge mandated a redesign of the decades-old ballot for the Democratic primary last year. The judge deemed a feature known as the county line likely unconstitutional, following a lawsuit from Democratic Sen. Andy Kim and former Democratic congressional candidates Sarah Schoengood and Carolyn Rush. They argued that the county line unfairly favored candidates aligned with party leaders by placing them prominently while relegating others to less visible areas of the ballot.
The newly proposed Senate bill grants county clerks broad discretion in grouping candidates who run together for offices with multiple seats. This approach expands upon a measure in the Assembly’s ballot design bill that passed in December, which fair ballot advocates argue reflects the very issues the redesign aims to address.
Antoinette Miles, director of the New Jersey Working Families Party, criticized the Senate bill as a “further regression,” warning that it could lead to increased voter confusion. “It just opens up this can of worms that could flood the system with more voter confusion,” Miles stated.
The redesigned ballot will categorize candidates by office rather than endorsement, but a contentious issue remains regarding the fairness of grouping allied candidates running for the Assembly. The Assembly allows allied candidates to be listed sequentially, while the Senate bill permits them to be listed even closer together or within the same box.
Kim expressed concern that grouping candidates could replicate the issues he raised in his court challenge against the county line, noting that it pressures voters to associate with others to gain better ballot placement. “It’s totally fine for incumbents to run, and they can run as running mates in their campaign, but it shouldn’t be on the ballot,” he said. “Just run your campaign.”
Josh Pasek, a researcher and expert witness in Kim’s lawsuit, described candidate grouping as “the lowest hanging fruit” for a potential lawsuit, as candidates placed together are more likely to appear first on the ballot, which provides a strategic advantage.
Advocates warn that this grouping could confuse voters who may not understand that these positions are elected separately. “This is sort of the ‘change is hard’ moment for the legislature,” Miles remarked. The New Jersey Working Families Party previously filed a lawsuit over the county line in 2020.
Additionally, the Senate bill eliminates font guidelines established by the Assembly in partnership with the Center for Civic Design. It also assigns letters and numbers to candidate ballot positions, resembling the previous method used by county parties to guide voters on which boxes to select.
The bill further proposes to remove state party committee members from the ballot, with members instead appointed by county committees if the legislation passes.
Kim expressed skepticism about the likelihood of state senators making positive changes to the Assembly’s bill, which he found unsatisfactory. He indicated that he wouldn’t lobby senators, as he has already conveyed his stance. “I made it known that I didn’t like where things landed,” he said. “That’s something I’ll keep in mind regarding how I engage in future races and other matters across New Jersey.”
