What you need to know about the final N.J. ballot design hearing

• When: Monday, Dec. 2, 2024
• Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Location: Virtual (Zoom)
• Registration deadline for testifying: 10 a.m. Dec. 2
• Registration link: NJ Legislature website
• Submit written testimony: Email  OLSAideABD@njleg.org

The New Jersey Assembly Select Committee on Ballot Design will hold its final public hearing at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2, via Zoom. Elected officials will accept testimony from residents about what New Jersey’s ballot should look like for primary elections.

New Jersey has used a unique “county-line” system for decades that gives county party leaders significant power. Under this system, county party leadership often decides who receives the party endorsement for the primary race. All endorsed candidates are grouped together in the first column of the ballot. Other candidates are placed in columns to the right, sometimes several columns over, in what critics call “ballot Siberia.” Voters often choose candidates down the line, favoring those endorsed by the county.

U.S. Rep. Andy Kim challenged the system in court when he ran for Bob Menendez’s Senate seat in the Democratic primary last June. A judge ruled that the state’s ballot design was unconstitutional and required Democrats to adopt a block ballot system, similar to those used in other states. County clerks easily made the transition to the block ballot system within weeks.

At a Nov. 7 Zoom hearing, Assembly Select Committee Co-chair Benjie Wimberly (D-Passaic) said legislators are committed to an open and transparent process.

“Last March, legislative leaders committed to the bipartisan and transparent process of ballot design. That commitment was made before any court decisions were issued. Last month, the leadership of the Assembly announced the formation of this committee, and shortly after it was formally created, we had our first hearing,” Wimberly said. He dismissed suggestions that the courts should decide what New Jersey’s ballot design looks like.

“Saying the court should decide is misguided thinking and sets a dangerous precedent that unelected political appointees serving lifetime terms should design ballots. It also does not reflect the clear language of the judge,” Wimberly said, adding that the judge’s decision “merely stated” that the ballot must fulfill constitutional obligations. He said the Legislature is committed to complying with the court order.

Assembly Committee Co-chair Al Barlas (R-Essex) said there is a role for every branch of government in the country and in the state. “While the courts have ruled and made their opinion known, it is now on us as a Legislature to begin the fact-finding process of talking to experts, talking to the public, gathering as much information as possible, and coming up with a bill that not only adheres to the law but also is practically implementable,” Barlas said.

Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer) expressed concern that voters might be “confused” by an office block ballot where candidates for the same office are grouped together. She asked advocates of a block ballot design at the Nov. 7 Zoom hearing what features could help voters better understand the ballot and the offices being sought.

Antoinette Miles, the head of NJ Working Families, pointed out that voters in the two New Jersey counties that have already eliminated the county line do not appear confused by block ballots. She added that voters in most other states use ballots grouping candidates by the office being sought rather than by party endorsement and voters aren’t confused by the ballot.

Julia Sass Rubin, a public policy professor at Rutgers University who has done extensive research on ballot design, said New Jersey was the only state to use a county-line ballot.

“In every other state that has elected positions for which voters may select more than one candidate, such as state assembly or county commissioner, those candidates’ names are listed individually with no visual groupings allowed,” Sass Rubin said. “Visually connecting the endorsed commissioner or assembly candidates in any way on the primary ballot could influence which candidates voters select and that, by definition, would not be a fair ballot.”

She said extensive research shows that appearing first on a ballot gives a candidate a distinct advantage. That is why more than a dozen states require the order of candidates’ names to be rotated on the ballot to ensure all candidates appear first an equal number of times. Most of those states rotate by voting precinct.

“There is absolutely no reason New Jersey could not do this to ensure a ballot that’s fair to everybody,” Sass Rubin said. “That should not create obstacles to sending sample ballots to voters. We already create different sample ballots by voting precinct when they include county committee candidates, because county committees, as you know, are elected at the local voting precinct level.”

Sass Rubin said there is no reason to believe voters find office block ballots confusing. She said voters do find county-line ballots confusing though, especially when the ballots place empty spaces between candidates running for the same office. “This leads to overvotes and undervotes,” Sass Rubin said.

The New Jersey League of Women Voters is urging the Legislature to create a fair and simple ballot with an office block layout for all elections. The League is advocating for ballot neutrality, where candidate order is selected at random using an electronic system. The League is also calling for the elimination of candidate groupings, bracketing, and endorsements to ensure voters can make independent choices and all candidates are treated equally. The League has launched an online petition calling on lawmakers to adopt a fair and neutral ballot redesign.