In a study published by New Jersey Policy Perspective, Rutgers Professor Julia Sass Rubin analyzed New Jersey’s 2020 primaries. She concluded that “structuring ballots around the county line impact election outcomes by steering voters toward specific candidates. The county line also increases voter confusion, contributing to overvotes and undervotes.” She goes on to note that the candidates’ share of the vote“ varied by as much as 50 percentage points, based on whether or not they were on the county line.”
Need more proof? Not a single incumbent for a legislative seat who is on the county line has lost a primary in the last 11 years. In effect, the state party organizations, not the voters, choose who represents us.
