Assembly sends pair of election bills to Murphy’s desk

The Assembly sent a pair of election reform bills to the governor’s desk Thursday afternoon, including momentous primary ballot design legislation. 

The Assembly voted 65-7 to approve legislation to eliminate the controversial county line from primary ballots. Thursday’s bill is a tweaked version of the bill the Assembly passed in December—the new vote was needed to bring the Assembly in line with legislation passed by the state Senate earlier this week. 

The bill, which mandates office-block ballots, now sits on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk. Murphy will be out of the state for unspecified travel until March 3, according to his public schedule. Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way will serve as acting governor until Murphy’s return.

The need for the bill stems from last year’s Senate race; then-Rep. Andy Kim sued election officials over the county line, which granted advantageous ballot positions to party-endorsed candidates. Federal judge Zahid Quraishi ruled the county line unconstitutional in a decision that flipped last year’s Democratic primaries upside down.

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 the county committee.

New Jersey Working Families Party State Director Antoinette Miles called on Murphy to conditionally veto the bill. Miles criticized an option that allows for running mates seeking the same office to bracket together.

“While this legislation would prohibit some of the most egregious practices that county clerks have used to favor party insiders and their preferred candidates — including consigning candidates to ‘Ballot Siberia’ — it still allows for the creation of a ballot that can be used to influence voters,” Miles said in a statement. “It ignores calls to end the bracketing of certain candidates, and to modernize our ballot draw process which is key to giving voters confidence that ballots are not rigged.”

Five Republicans and two Democrats—Assemblywomen Barbara McCann Stamato (D-Jersey City) and Jessica Ramirez (D-Jersey City)—voted against the bill. The pair are both allies of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat running an anti-establishment campaign for governor.

The Assembly voted 50-22 to extend early voting during primary elections. If signed by Murphy, the legislation would lengthen the current three days of early, in-person voting to six days.

The New Jersey Globe incorrectly reported last week that the bill created seven days of early voting.