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The system groups candidates running on tickets into single lines or columns, meaning that the many candidates endorsed by county political organizations appear together with ticket-leaders like President Joe Biden. Candidates running alone or on smaller slates usually appear further off to the right or down the ballot, outside of the large groupings that signal to voters that they’re the legitimate party candidates. Research by Rutgers University professor Julia Sass Rubin shows the preferential ballot placement gives candidates an advantage that is difficult to beat.

“It’s kind of ridiculous that we’re still having a clerk draw names out of a drum when there are computers that could randomize this in a much more scientific way, and would be cheating-proof, essentially,” says Julia Sass Rubin,

There is a rich literature around what is known as the primacy effect that indicates being first on the ballot is helpful. To counter this effect, many states randomize the order of candidate names by voting district.