A large group of female elected officials and former candidates for elected office released a joint statement this morning calling for the end of the county line, joining a growing chorus of New Jersey politicians who say the line – which groups party-endorsed candidates together on primary ballots – needs to go.
“The state’s county party line system, the only such system in the country, is in itself a form of voter suppression that limits choices, concentrates power in the hands of a few, mostly white, male political leaders, and creates a glass ceiling for women in New Jersey politics,” the statement reads. “It is long past time to smash it.”
Among the 38 names on the list are former Assemblywomen Sadaf Jaffer (D-Montgomery) and Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood); Jersey City Council President Joyce Watterman; Hoboken Councilwoman Emily Jabbour; former Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz; and five currently serving mayors: Shelley Brindle of Westfield, Sheena Collum of South Orange, Dahlia Vertreese of Hillside, Jen Blumenstock of Garwood, and Michele Lee of High Bridge.
The names on the list have substantial overlap with backers of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s gubernatorial campaign. Fulop has similarly called for an end to the county line, and has asked his fellow gubernatorial candidates to join him in a pledge to renounce all county lines statewide and run in a fully open primary.
Three candidates in this year’s Democratic Senate primary Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Patricia Campos-Medina, and Larry Hamm – are also anti-county line, instead preferring an “office block” ballot system like other states have. (Watterman and Vertreese are both backing Kim, while Jaffer and Diaz are supporting Campos-Medina.)
That Senate race, in which First Lady Tammy Murphy has gotten party support in most big counties, has drawn attention to the line system to an extent not seen in many years; in fact, Kim has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the line is unconstitutional and should be struck down. The signatories of this morning’s statement said that the heightened focus is an encouraging sign for New Jersey politics.
“We are heartened to see that discussion about the negative impact of the party ballot line is getting more mainstream attention,” their statement reads. “It’s time for New Jersey to join the other 49 states in the country that use a fair ballot design system and end this archaic and undemocratic practice and abolish the line.”
Full list of statement signatories
Mercedes Aguirre Valenzuela, Former Council Candidate, Wayne (Passaic)
Marlene Baldinger, Councilwoman, Lebanon Borough (Hunterdon)
Staci Berger, Candidate for Mayor of Piscataway (Middlesex)
Jen Blumenstock, Mayor, Borough of Garwood (Union)
Karina Boto, Councilwoman, Borough of Garwood (Union)
Shelley Brindle, Mayor, Town of Westfield (Union)
Jannie Chung, Councilwoman, Borough of Closter (Bergen)
Sheena Collum, Mayor, South Orange Village (Essex)
Jamaine Cripe, Deputy Mayor, Maplewood Township (Essex)
Lauren Dayton, Former Councilwoman, Borough of Tenafly (Bergen)
Kate Delany, Former County Commissioner Candidate (Camden)
Wilda Diaz, Former Mayor, Perth Amboy (Middlesex)
Betsy Driver, Former Mayor, Borough of Flemington (Hunterdon)
Jennifer Ehrentraut, Former Senate Candidate (LD-40)
Alison Fetten, Former Councilwoman, South Bound Brook (Somerset)
Marjorie Fox, Former Council President, City of Summit (Union)
Linda Habgood, Councilwoman, Town of Westfield (Union)
Susan Hairston, Former Councilwoman, City of Summit (Union)
Patricia Henry, Former County Commission Candidate (Bergen)
Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Former Assemblywoman (LD-37)
Emily Jabbour, Councilwoman, City of Hoboken (Hudson)
Sadaf F. Jaffer, Former Assemblywoman (LD-16)
Collette J. Kennedy, Former Mayor, Borough of Keyport (Monmouth)
Michele Lee, Mayor, Borough of High Bridge (Hunterdon)
Rhonda C. LeGrice, former Mayor, Atlantic Highlands (Monmouth)
Lisa Mandelblatt, Former Assembly Candidate (LD21)
Clarissa Nolde, Councilwoman, Borough of Garwood (Union)
Nora Radest, Former Mayor, City of Summit (Union)
Ann Marie Peterson, Former Council Candidate, Borough of Hawthorne (Passaic)
Truscha Quatrone, Former Freeholder Candidate (Morris)
Emily Root, Former Councilwoman, Town of Westfield (Union)
Phyllis G. Sank, Former Councilmember, City of Summit (Union)
Dahlia Vertreese, Mayor, City of Hillside (Union)
Joyce Watterman, Council President, Jersey City (Hudson)
Louise Wilson, Former Mayor, Montgomery (Somerset)
Dolores Witko, Former Councilwoman, Closter (Bergen)