At a nine-hour hearing Monday in federal court in Trenton, the constitutionality of the so-called party line on the state’s ballot design was the issue. In oral arguments, lawyers representing U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-3rd), who brought the lawsuit, and others in support of ending the line, argued it goes against the pursuit of democracy.
“This is a system unlike any other system in the United States,” Kim said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News on Tuesday. “Forty-nine other states in America use an office-block ballot, a very standard ballot for our elections. New Jersey does not. We’re the outlier. And, we do it in a way that allows party leaders to give preferential placement to their preferred candidates, and that’s just not fair.”
Kim is involved in a heated primary race with first lady Tammy Murphy for the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). Attorneys for the defendants in the “county line” case — the 19 counties that use this ballot structure — argued it’s not feasible to change how candidates are grouped on a ballot design before the June primary election.
