If New Jersey moves the 2024 presidential primary to earlier in the cycle, there would be no organization lines for the stand-alone contest.
Organization lines only exist in primaries where countywide candidates are running.
The last time New Jersey held a presidential primary early in the year – February 5, 2008 – county clerk’s drew ballot positions for the candidates without regard to preferences set by county chairs.
Democrats ran delegate candidates in the February contest, but Republicans opted to hold a winter presidential primary and elect their delegates in the June primary.
LeRoy Jones, Jr., the Democratic State Chairman, sent a letter to national Democrats on Thursday asking for New Jersey to be included as one of the early primary states in the next election.
New Jersey moved their primary to Super Tuesday in a bid to be nationally relevant in an election where both parties had competitive contests for the presidency.
But between the Iowa caucuses and Super Tuesday, the race had changed significantly. Four Democrats on the New Jersey ballot – John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich and Joe Biden – withdrew before the New Jersey primary. So did Rudy Giuliani, who had dominated the early endorsement game among Republicans.
Hillary Clinton carried New Jersey by a 54%-44% margin over Barack Obama in the Democratic primary; she won 59 delegates, with 48 going to Obama. McCain defeated Mitt Romney, 55%-28%.
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