Politics & Government
NJ's Primary Ballots Are Unconstitutional, AG Says: Election 2024
New Jersey's attorney general said he has no plans to defend the controversial political oddity known at the "Party Line."
NEW JERSEY — It’s unconstitutional. That’s the opinion of New Jersey’s attorney general when it comes to the controversial political oddity known at the “Party Line” – which he has no plans to defend in court.
On Sunday, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General issued a legal filing about U.S. Rep. Andy Kim’s federal lawsuit to prohibit the use of county-line ballots statewide, beginning with the 2024 primary election.
What is the party line, and why do advocates say it’s unfair? Here’s how it works, a Rutgers University professor recently explained:
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“Primary ballots used by the majority of New Jersey voters are organized around a slate of candidates endorsed by either the Democratic or the Republican Party. These slates of candidates are known as the ‘county line’ or the ‘party line.’ Instead of organizing primary ballots around the office being sought and clearly indicating which candidates are running for each position, most counties in New Jersey organize the primary ballots around a slate of party-endorsed candidates. As a result, voters often have a hard time determining which candidates are running for each office, giving a huge advantage to those who land on the county line.”
According to the attorney general’s office – which is headed by Montclair resident Matthew Platkin – nobody else in the nation is using New Jersey’s unusual primary election ballot layout.
“In light of the evidentiary record, the attorney general has concluded that the challenged statutes are unconstitutional and therefore will not be defending them,” the legal filing states, adding that the move is an “exceptionally rare decision.”
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A hearing on the case is scheduled for Monday. However, it’s unclear if a ruling will be issued before the March 25 filing deadline or the primary election, according to the New Jersey Globe, which first reported on the attorney general’s decision.
The possibility that it’s too late to put a stop to the practice before this year’s primary election was previously suggested by four county clerks, who claimed that rolling out a ban this late in the election season would cause “cascading and rippling effects.”
A spokesman for Gov. Phil Murphy said the governor disagrees with Platkin’s office, alleging that he has a duty to stick up for New Jersey’s primary election system, Politico reported:
“Outside the context of any campaign, Governor Murphy has consistently and accurately noted that the bracketing of candidates is permitted by duly enacted laws that have been on the books for decades. It is well-established that Attorneys General have a general obligation to defend the constitutionality of statutes, regardless of their own personal views. The Governor believes that a legal defense of the statute permitting bracketing would have been appropriate and consistent with the actions of prior Attorneys General.”
In February, Kim and two other Congressional candidates – Carolyn Rush, who is running for a House seat in New Jersey’s 2nd District, and Sarah Schoengood, who is running to succeed Kim in the 3rd District – announced that they were launching a federal lawsuit in attempt to kill the party line in the Garden State.
Kim is one of several candidates vying to replace embattled U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez in this year’s Senate race. He is competing for the Democratic Party nomination in the race. Other candidates currently seeking the Democratic nod include Tammy Murphy, Kevin Cupples, Patrick Merrill, Patricia Campos-Medina and Lawrence Hamm.
Candidates seeking the Republican nomination include Curtis Bashaw, Michael Estrada, Albert Harshaw, Justin Murphy, Christine Serrano-Glassner and Alex Zdan. Additional candidates include Christina Khalil (Green Party of NJ) and Nick Carducci (Independent).
Kim isn’t the only candidate in this year’s U.S. Senate race to make a demand for “fair ballot design” in New Jersey. Earlier this month, his fellow candidates Campos-Medina and Hamm also called for an end to the Party Line.
Currently, 19 counties in New Jersey are using a party column ballot design for primary elections.
How big is the benefit? No state legislative incumbent on the line lost a primary election in New Jersey between 2009 and 2018, according to a recent analysis by the Communications Workers of America.
- See Related: NJ Primary Ballots Bamboozle Voters With 'The Line,' Experts Say
- See Related: NJ Needs To Change Its Weird, 'Biased' Primary Ballots: Advocates
Some pundits have claimed that the party line system is part of the reason why New Jersey has so many uncontested elections, and why it’s so hard to find information on some of the candidates.
Ironically, despite Kim’s protests against the party line system, he has already captured several county endorsements in his Senate bid. The congressman’s latest campaign victory came last weekend, when he emerged victorious in the Morris County Convention, nailing down the Democratic Party endorsement in that county.
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