Sadaf Jaffer Archives - New Jersey Globe

Ten election bills cleared an Assembly committee. What do they do?

May 13, 2022 5:51 pmMay 16, 2022 12:41 am

A raft of ten bills concerning New Jersey’s elections, including seven spearheaded by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Woodbridge), passed the Assembly State and Local Government Committee yesterday. If ultimately signed into law, the bills could make important changes to how...

Young people are significantly underrepresented in Trenton

March 25, 2022 2:44 pmMarch 28, 2022 12:25 am

Does the New Jersey legislature have an age problem? Usually, that kind of question is answered with statistics about just how old politicians are. The average age of a New Jersey legislator, for example, is 58-and-a-half; looking just at the...

Assembly approves bill temporarily waiving test needed for high school graduation

March 24, 2022 5:55 pmMarch 25, 2022 10:06 am

The Assembly passed a bill today temporarily waiving a requirement that current high school juniors pass the New Jersey Grade Proficiency Assessment, citing the disruption to education and mental health caused by the ongoing Covid pandemic. “Everybody recognizes that the...

Initial legislative map proposals leave some incumbents behind

February 8, 2022 5:22 pmFebruary 8, 2022 7:14 pm

Whenever a new political redistricting process begins, one of the most frustrating things to account for is where incumbent legislators already live. Those tasked with redistricting want to draw as logical a map as possible, but they also frequently have...

Republican legislative proposal would create Jersey’s first Asian American district

February 7, 2022 4:19 pm

If the GOP’s legislative map proposal, or something like it, is ultimately approved by Legislative Apportionment Commission tiebreaker Philip Carchman, it could create a first for New Jersey: a legislative district where Asian Americans are the largest racial group. Under...

Princeton team advising Carchman could have a conflict

January 19, 2022 12:49 amJanuary 19, 2022 8:52 am

Two Princeton University employees who serve in the New Jersey Legislature might create a potential conflict for legislative redistricting. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project headed by Sam Wang was brought on to advise Philip J. Carchman, the court-appointed independent tiebreaker on...

There’s no such thing as a perfect legislative map

January 14, 2022 2:26 pm

Last Saturday, Legislative Apportionment Commission tiebreaker Philip Carchman released an eight-page document outlining his requirements for the state’s next legislative map and laying out a series of standards he hopes the redrawn districts will fulfill. Among those standards are compactness,...