Judge dismisses suit over Camden County ballot design

A challenge to a Camden County ballot design element regarding dozens of county committee positions will wait until after the June election, according to a progressive group and Camden County’s clerk.

Democratic voters in Cherry Hill will elect 74 county committee members on June 10. Camden County Clerk Pamela Lampitt designed a ballot for Cherry Hill that would allow voters to fill one oval to vote for their chosen slate of candidates, rather than fill an oval next to each candidate’s name.

Two slates of candidates are running for the seats: 74 are running under the party slogan, while three are running under the banner of the South Jersey Progressive Democrats. The ballot design means voters can only vote for one slate and cannot vote for individual candidates from either slate.

South Jersey Progressive Democrats and several of its candidates sued on Tuesday, arguing a new ballot design law requires an oval next to the name of each candidate. The suit argues voters may not support SJPD because it would force them to undervote for 71 of the 74 positions. (SJPD also sued over a similar issue in Collingswood, but Camden County agreed to place ovals next to the names of all 19 candidates in that town.)

Camden County said technical difficulties meant they couldn’t add individual ovals next to all 77 candidates.

SJPD said they agreed to dismiss the case without prejudice, which would allow them to refile the charges at a later date. The group said it will reapproach the issue after the June election, “to engage in further discussion as to full compliance with the new law in future elections, which the technology permits.”

Lampitt said the county will proceed with holding the election as planned.

“The Clerk’s office and staff have always complied with the laws and statutes that have been beneficial to the voters of Camden County,” Lampitt said in a release. “Now that we are out of court, we can go back to the work of the people preparing for the upcoming primary and the variety of other daily functions facilitated by the office.”

David Stahl, a SJPD member running for Democratic County Committee in Cherry Hill, implored Camden County to adjust the ballot in time for future elections.

“While our rights as candidates and our supporters’ rights are being violated by this year’s Cherry Hill ballot, I can only hope the Camden Clerk’s office will grant other voters across the county their right to select their preferred candidates, with the required oval next to each candidate’s name and space for write-ins,” he said.

SJPD says Camden County should reform the way it conducts county committee elections to make any technological issues moot.

“In Camden County—and only in Camden County—county committee races [are] run at-large, rather than by district,” the release said. “This means that voters are forced to check one box to elect all 74 candidates. It’s a broken system that needs to be addressed. The Camden County Clerk’s office has pointed to technology as the problem when really it is the format of these races which result in voter disenfranchisement.”