Kim calls for simple office-block ballots in final Assembly committee hearing

In the final public hearing of the Assembly’s select committee on ballot design, Senator-elect Andy Kim implored legislators to implement ballot laws banning any design features that could sway voters.

The fifth and final hearing, held virtually Monday night, allowed the select committee to hear public testimony one last time before the 12-member panel heads to the drawing board to make recommendations to the Assembly at large.

Legislators are tasked with a statewide ballot redesign in part because of Kim. The Democratic congressman sued elections officials over the party line, a decadeslong practice in New Jersey that allowed political parties to handpick candidates for preferential columns on ballots, known as “the line.”

Kim’s lawsuit was successful — Judge Zahid Quraishi banned the line from this year’s Democratic primary and most county clerks have agreed to ditch the county line — and the senator-elect reemphasized his support for simple, office-block designs Monday night. Kim said the county line has worsened distrust of politicians in New Jersey.

The Democrat told the committee that legislators should not allow any emphasis, bolding, highlighting, asterisks, or other markings to denote a candidate’s incumbency or other preferred status. He also said candidates running together for multiple seats in the same district, like Assembly candidates do, should not be physically grouped or bracketed together on a ballot.

“It’s as simple as saying that every person on the ballot can and must be treated exactly the same,” Kim said before the committee. “It’s for the voters to select their elected representatives, not the other way around.”

Kim attended the first select committee hearing in Trenton in late October, but the hearing was limited to expert testimony and the congressman was not allowed to speak.

Kim isn’t the only major politician to call for office-block ballots. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, both candidates for governor, told legislators to do away with the party line at a hearing last month.

Like the other hearings, nearly all the speakers during the two hours of public testimony were opposed to party line ballots, while opinions about slogans, bracketing, and other markings varied.

“The court’s decision exists because the people of New Jersey were frustrated and demanded change,” Kim said at the meeting. “Those frustrations and demands exist because the ballot reflected of the so-called county line system were fundamentally unfair and undemocratic.”

Assemblyman Al Barlas (R-Cedar Grove), a co-chair of the committee, said the committee intends to share the text of a ballot bill to the public before it’s considered by the committee or Assembly.

“The next time this committee meets we plan to have a piece of legislation that codifies Judge [Zahid] Quraishi’s order and incorporates the information we received throughout this process,” co-Chair Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson) said to open the meeting.