The New Jersey State Assembly is expected to announce a bipartisan committee this month to consider ballot design options. The panel will hold public hearings in different parts of the state to listen to the public prior to introducing legislation, the New Jersey Globe has learned.
Several rough drafts of a bill have been created and discussed over the last few months, but the Assembly is not ready to introduce anything now. Legislative leaders appear to prefer seeking stakeholders’ input before advancing specific legislation.
Discussions by the legislature come as Middlesex and Burlington counties have settled a lawsuit to drop out of litigation to eliminate county organization lines, but that lawsuit remains pending. Earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi ordered office block voting for the 2024 Democratic primary.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, wants Quraishi – not the legislature – to make final determinations about ballot design.
“While it remains in their purview of the courts, I urge them to make the New Jersey ballot simple, fair and free from bias. For too long, even our ballots in this state have been a place for political gamesmanship and we cannot leave to chance this opportunity to close the door on past,” Baraka said. “Democracy demands that we make choices plain for every voter and that we let our candidates stand on their work ethic and merits, nothing else.”
Another candidate for governor, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, said today that “anything less than the exact bold judgment from Judge Quraishi that codified block ballots with no bracketing and no design advantages would be unacceptable to the public.”
“It will be seen for what it is as an attempt by legislators to again draft legislation to benefit some candidates over others and to draw an unfair ballot to bias voters,” said Fulop, an early critic of county lines. “Some want to protect what they can in a process that ultimately has enriched a few lobbyists and county chairs at the expense of good government.”
Fulop said he believed “that will be met with fierce opposition if not by the Assembly with their vote then certainly in Court.”
“Those members that vote for it would have their reckoning at the ballot box with supporters paying a political price that is steep with voters remembering even if it ultimately is reversed in court — which is likely,” he said.
POLITICO New Jersey reported his morning that Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco said a bill would be introduced next week.