Federal judge approves Bergen County settlement, formally ending two lawsuits and the controversial primary-ballot system statewide

A federal judge has approved Bergen County’s settlement in two lawsuits challenging New Jersey’s controversial county-line ballots, formally ending the system statewide after more than a decade of advocacy and six years of litigation.

U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi signed the agreement Tuesday, one day after it was filed in federal court. Bergen County Clerk John Hogan was the last of the 19 county clerks named in the cases to settle.

For decades, the county line allowed county political organizations to place their endorsed candidates together in a prominent column or row on primary ballots. Candidates who did not receive the party endorsement could appear far from their opponents or in less favorable positions that people often referred to as “ballot Siberia.”

The system gave county party leaders significant power because their endorsements often came with a huge advantage on the ballot.

Under the settlement, Bergen County will use office-block ballots that group candidates according to the positions they are seeking rather than their political alliances. A separate random drawing must be held for each office, giving every candidate running for the same position an equal chance to appear first. The agreement applies to mail-in ballots and ballots used at polling places.

Bergen County also must pay $60,052.50 toward the plaintiffs’ legal fees and costs, leaving county taxpayers responsible for the cost of Hogan’s prolonged defense of the county boss system.

Good-government and voting-rights organizations that supported the lawsuits celebrated Quraishi’s approval as the culmination of a fight that few people believed they could win because of New Jersey’s entrenched political system, which relies heavily on powerful county party organizations.

“Today’s announcement is the final nail in the coffin for the county line system,” said Micauri Vargas, a lawyer representing the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. “What was once considered by many to be the untouchable third rail of New Jersey politics — an unfair ballot design that favored party insiders over voters — has now officially been consigned to history.”

The legal battle began in July 2020, when former primary candidates and the New Jersey Working Families Party filed Conforti v. Hanlon. The lawsuit challenged several parts of the county-line system, including rules that allowed party-endorsed candidates to be grouped together and receive favorable ballot placement.

A second lawsuit was filed in February 2024 by then-U.S. Rep. Andy Kim and congressional candidates Sarah Schoengood and Carolyn Rush.

At the time, Kim was running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate against then-first lady Tammy Murphy, who had secured favorable ballot positions in counties representing about two-thirds of Democratic voters.

Kim continued to challenge the system even after Murphy dropped out and party leaders offered him the favored ballot positions she would have received.

Quraishi sided with Kim and the other candidates in March 2024, ordering county clerks to stop using the county line in that year’s Democratic primary. A federal appeals court upheld his decision.

New Jersey lawmakers rewrote the state’s primary-ballot law in 2025, but Bergen County continued fighting both cases. Quraishi ruled in May that the litigation could continue because county clerks still had enough freedom under the revised law to arrange ballots in ways that could favor some candidates.

Hogan agreed this week to stop contesting the plaintiffs’ claims and accept detailed rules intended to ensure equal ballot placement.

“The county line litigation has already transformed New Jersey politics by opening the political process to new generations of leaders and candidates who previously faced systemic barriers to meaningful participation,” said Ronald Chen of the Rutgers Constitutional Law Clinic, representing the Harvard Election Law Clinic. “This resolution marks an important milestone for a more competitive, accessible, and democratic electoral system in New Jersey.”

Several organizations that filed briefs supporting the challenges said the county line placed particular burdens on candidates and voters of color.

“This settlement is long overdue in ensuring the people of New Jersey, especially Asian American voters and voters of color, have the power to elect candidates who truly represent them,” said Niyati Shah, senior director of litigation at Asian Americans Advancing Justice. “We are proud to have joined our partners in court to help ensure that New Jersey’s ballots serve the people, not political insiders.”

Asian Americans are among the most underrepresented groups in New Jersey elected office despite accounting for a significant share of the state’s population, advocates said.

“For too long, the county line disempowered Asian American voters and other marginalized groups, leading to severe and persistent underrepresentation for the almost 1.1 million Asians who call New Jersey home,” said Ronak Patel, an attorney with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. “This settlement represents a significant victory for voting rights and the Asian community in New Jersey as our state moves forward with a more open and equitable democracy where all voters can make their choices freely, and every candidate has a fair opportunity to compete.”

Amber Reed, co-executive director of AAPI New Jersey, also said the ballot system is a civil-rights issue.

“The county line was a pernicious form of voter suppression, contributing to the dramatic underrepresentation of Asian Americans in elected office in New Jersey,” Reed said. “We were grateful to partner with AALDEF and Advancing Justice-AAJC to make its harms to the civil rights of Asian Americans part of the public record, and will continue to work with this powerful coalition to make New Jersey a fairer, more democratic state.”

Research by Rutgers University professor Julia Sass Rubin found that the county line had a powerful influence on election results. In an analysis of 45 congressional and U.S. Senate candidates who had the line in some counties while an opponent had it elsewhere, every candidate performed better where they had the line — by an average of 38 percentage points. A later analysis that separated ballot position from other benefits of a county party endorsement found that the line alone gave candidates an average advantage of about 12 percentage points. (Seton Hall Law Review)

The design encouraged voters to follow the endorsed slate down a single column or across a row, making it extremely difficult for candidates outside the line to win. Rubin’s research also found that the confusing layout contributed to voters accidentally choosing too many candidates or skipping some races altogether.

“The end of the county line is a win for democracy in New Jersey,” said Nicole Rodriguez, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective. “NJPP’s research has shown how ballot positioning and design can steer voters towards certain candidates and away from others. Ending this practice permanently puts democracy in the hands of voters, where it belongs.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey argued in a court brief that the county line violated candidates’ constitutional rights by favoring those who associated with party-backed groups.

“The ‘county line’ ballot design system operated as a form of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination; it manipulated election outcomes and undermined voters’ power at the polls,” said Liza Weisberg, a supervising attorney with the organization. “The end of this litigation is a momentous milestone. We will always fight to ensure that elections are free, fair, and truly reflective of the will of voters, not party insiders.”

The Campaign Legal Center said the county line also made primary ballots needlessly confusing.

“Fair and clear ballot designs are vital to a healthy democracy,” said Kevin Hancock, the organization’s director of litigation. “New Jersey’s misleading, outdated ‘bracketing’ system disproportionately burdened voters and candidates of color. Now, New Jerseyans can make their voices heard through a straightforward and equitable ballot and ensure their candidacy is safeguarded from discriminatory ballot-design practices. We applaud the years-long effort to secure this victory and deliver much-needed transparency in New Jersey elections.”

The settlement also prevents Bergen County from using the result of a drawing for one race to determine where an entire group of party-endorsed candidates appears. The clerk also cannot place candidates for different offices together or separate one candidate from others seeking the same position.

Candidates still may share a slogan, but the clerk cannot group them in a way that prevents their opponents from receiving an equal drawing and equal presentation.

“After many years of grassroots organizing, the official end of the county line marks a new era in New Jersey politics,” said Jesse Burns, executive director of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey. “We have proven that through people-power a more inclusive democracy is possible and we will continue to work together to build the democracy we all deserve. As our democracy faces grave threats, we carry this lesson with us as we tackle the work ahead.”

Quraishi will retain authority to enforce the settlement and resolve disagreements about its requirements.