Two county clerks say Quraishi was wrong, seek reconsideration

The county clerks in Bergen and Union counties believe U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi got it wrong when he denied their motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by now-U.S. Senator Andy Kim to eliminate county lines in New Jersey.

In a brief filed earlier this week, lawyers for John Hogan and Joanne Rajoppi argue that the lawsuit is moot because the alleged constitutional harms have been addressed by the ballot design law approved earlier this year.

They want Quraishi to reconsider his ruling because the two county clerks are no longer responsible for any ongoing damage to Kim or other plaintiffs.

The attorneys said that lawsuit now is nothing more than … (an) attempt to get something they can characterize as a final judgment on the merits from which they can claim prevailing party status, regardless of whether any such final judgment redresses any real injury they have or even might suffer in the future.”  They said this is just a bid by Kim’s layers to pursue legal fees “by obtaining an advisory opinion over the constitutionality of yet to be identified aspects of the revised ballot design statute.”

The new law eliminated the line and “Ballot Siberia” and requires office block ballots.