Senate committee passes ballot reform bill with tweaks

A state Senate committee approved a bill Thursday that will mandate office-block ballots in primary elections. 

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously supported the bill, which is similar to Assembly legislation passed late last year. The committee removed language that would have given county clerks the discretion to change lines or make other modifications to indicate when two or more candidates were associated—that language had been the target of ballot reform advocates.

Senate President Nicholas Scutari said the entire Senate will vote on the bill Tuesday.

Federal judge Zahid Quraishi upended the state’s politics last year when he ruled the county line was unconstitutional. The longtime ballot system gave party-endorsed candidates an advantageous ballot position. Critics said the system was unfair to outsider candidates, and Quraishi’s ruling meant legislators had to start crafting a different setup.

The Senate bill eliminates certain font requirements and requires candidates to have a ballot position number. The legislation also eliminates the direct election of Democratic and Republican State Committee members in primary elections; instead, State Committee members will be elected by a vote of the county committee.

“I think this is a good thing, a celebration of the end of the line,” said state Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch). “And I think the ballot is going to show that.”

The bill requires consistent block and line designs for all candidates and does not allow associated candidates to be placed next to each other without a line separating the candidates.

Several activists, municipal officials, and Assembly candidates testified at the hearing to ask for further changes to the legislation. They asked legislators to require a randomized ballot position drawing for each candidate—the current version allows running mates to be drawn together and placed next to each other on ballots.

“There should not be a coattails or a ballot-buddy system that allows running mates for Assembly or county commissioner or council races to essentially bracket with each other on the ballot,” New Jersey Working Families Party Director Antoinette Miles said at the hearing.

Quraishi’s ruling last year required clerks to conduct a random position drawing for each candidate for each office.

“I think this [bill] gets us a good way there,” Gopal said. “And if it isn’t, I’m sure Judge Quraishi, who had some strict guidelines, we’re going to hear from pretty soon, if this doesn’t get where we have to.”

The Assembly passed its ballot reform bill in December after a monthslong public hearing process. The Assembly is expected to adjust its legislation to match the Senate version.