Settlement discussions in the lawsuit over New Jersey’s county line ballot design are proceeding full steam ahead, after U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi rejected a request for an extension due to the ongoing administration of the 2024 elections.
The 16 county clerks who have yet to settle in the case have until tomorrow to submit letters to the court related to their settlement proposals (or lack thereof); a case management call with U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni will be held next Wednesday, October 16, to hash out any remaining issues.
In a filing yesterday, attorney Raj Parikh, writing on behalf of Passaic County Clerk Danielle Ireland-Imhof, requested a one-month delay in that schedule, noting that Ireland-Imhof and all of her fellow county clerks are currently in the middle of administering the November 5 general election. Given that the dispute over the county line doesn’t have any immediately timely repercussions – any changes to primary ballots wouldn’t go into effect until the primary election next June – he said conducting the case management conference the week of November 11, after the election, would make more sense.
“My client – and I suspect many of the defendant County Clerks – are focused on the increased volume of their duties related to the upcoming November 5, 2024 federal election,” Parikh wrote. “As a result, I have not yet had an opportunity to discuss plaintiffs’ proposal with my client in detail. I anticipate that this issue will continue for the next month leading up to Election Day.”
Their request was opposed by attorneys representing Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), the lead plaintiff in the anti-line case, and was ultimately rejected by Quraishi, meaning that the settlement discussions will continue on their original timeframe.
At issue is New Jersey’s unique county line ballot design system, which allows candidates to group together on primary ballots in a shared row or column. In practice, the line typically benefits party organizations, who assemble full slates of party-supported candidates and shunt any candidate without party support “off the line.”
Kim, a candidate for U.S. Senate, challenged the line in court earlier this year, building on existing anti-line litigation – and he won, with Quraishi issuing a preliminary injunction preventing the use of the county line in the 2024 Democratic primaries.
The scope of Quraishi’s decision was limited to this year’s primary, but several county clerks have since agreed to nix the line going forward as well. Clerks in Middlesex, Burlington, and Warren Counties have reached settlement agreements that will shift their ballots to an office-block style in future elections – and with Parikh’s extension request denied, more settlements may be coming in short order.
Leaders in the New Jersey State Assembly, meanwhile, are working to put together a bipartisan committee to consider options for new ballot designs.
This story was updated at 4:44 p.m. to reflect that it was Parikh, not Ireland-Imhof, who initiated the extension request.