BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – A U.S. Judge’s recent order on changing what some call “The County Line” on election ballots – barring a 10 a.m. April 3 motion filing deadline by objecting county clerks at the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia – may well face voters as early as the June 4 major party primary election.
U.S. Federal Magistrate Zahid Nisar Quraishi, from his Newark bench, had ruled on March 29 that the traditional placing of candidates on election ballots by party was unconstitutional. The judge, that Friday, issued a temporary injunction against New Jersey’s county clerks from using the county line ballot design.
Quraishi, in a further ruling April 1, said that his ruling to switch candidates’ ballot grouping by-party to by-elected office blocks pertains only to June 4’s Democratic party ballot.
The judge, also on Monday, rejected the request made on March 29 by 19 of New Jersey’s 21 county clerks to stay his ballot change ruling beyond June 4. The clerks, who are elected as Democratic or Republican candidates for their offices, said that there was not enough time to redesign the June 4 ballot.
“The court declines to retread the same ground a second time,” said Judge Quraishi to the county clerks Monday.
The appealing county clerks do not include their Salem and Sussex county colleagues. It is presumed that Essex County Clerk Christopher Durkin (D-Roseland) had joined the appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
UPDATE: After the print edition was finalized, it was reported that Durkin had pulled out of the appeal, and now supports block ballot voting.
The judge’s rulings basically sided with attorneys representing Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and two other Congressional candidates’ ballot design argument. They said that clerks can change the ballot layout from a county line to an office block “is a relatively easy task, taking a few hours or a day at most, and may be easier to program and check in its totality.”
Kim, his attorneys and other candidate-plaintiffs have claimed since last winter that using the county line in ballots put opposing party or independent candidates at a presentation disadvantage. What has been the traditional ballot practice gives prime ballot space to candidates who have received endorsements from officials from major parties.
Kim, who is running for the Democratic nomination to succeed U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Paramus) in a three-person primary race. (Lawrence Hamm, of Montclair, is among the other two runners.) His chief rival, NJ First Lady Tammy Murphy (D-Rumson) had been running with about 40 percent Democratic county committee support since her November announcement.
Murphy, citing possible damage from primary infighting detracting from the November General Election, ended her campaign March 29. Part of Murphy’s decision to suspend campaigning may have been from the split support of county Democratic committees during their endorsement meetings so far; some endorsed Murphy, others endorsed Kim.
Kim, who had been campaigning as an underdog, now finds himself the primary front runner. He continues his campaign to end the county line ballot.
East Orange’s LeRoy Jones, Jr. – who is the city, county and state Democratic Committee Chairman – had called for “ballot uniformity” in keeping the county line March 12. He had personally endorsed T. Murphy for the U.S. Senate Nov. 19.
Jones and the Essex County Democratic Committee had endorsed Robert J. “Rob” Menendez, Jr. (D-Union City) for the Eighth Congressional District primary – but not his father. Robert Menendez, Sr, due to his additional bribery indictment over the winter. has decided to pursue his U.S. Senate re-election bid as an independent.
