"Abolishing the county line would be an earthquake for New Jersey politics,'' said Julia Sass Rubin, a professor at Rutgers Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy who has been counseling local municipal parties about reform efforts. "Our entire...
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New Jersey’s primary election ballots are rigged | Opinion
Former Rutgers Law School Dean and Public Advocate Ron Chen and former NJ Attorney General and current Director of Rutgers' Eagleton Institute of Politics John Farmer cite Bloustein School professor Julia Rubin's research on the county line in an editorial about New...
Lawsuit seeks to change design of NJ ballots, claims they seem to give advantage to party favorites
New Jersey’s primary election was held on Tuesday, and there is a renewed focus on the design of the ballots themselves. Critics say that the design is unfair to any candidate not connected to powerful political parties. A study by Professor Julia Rubin, of the...
NJ ballot design gives huge advantage to party-backed candidates, paper finds
When Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise ran for a fifth term in 2019, he had every advantage over his sole primary challenger, Patricia Waiters. DeGise, a Democrat, had higher name recognition, tens of thousands more in campaign dollars and endorsements from every...
Analysis finds ‘county line’ gave huge advantage to New Jersey congressional candidates
New Jersey’s dominant primary ballot structure, known as the “county line,” provided a huge advantage to many party-backed candidates in last month’s primary and in some cases resulted in voter confusion and tossed-out votes, according to an analysis by a Rutgers...
Study: NJ’s Primary Ballot Favored Insider Candidates
Insider candidates and the politically connected benefited from the layout of New Jersey’s primary ballot in July, according to a new study released Thursday. New Jersey is the only state in the country that allows each county to design its ballot to give...
Organization lines offer significant advantage in primaries, study shows
“The county line also increases voter confusion, contributing to overvotes and undervotes. The impact of the county line appeared to be greatest in races that did not involve an incumbent,” said Julia Sass Rubin, an associate professor at the Edward J. Bloustein...
“Can we get back to politics?”
Where do the presidential and congressional races stand? How will the conventions and VP Biden’s selection of a running mate affect the race? We discuss this and more!
New Jersey politics: Why primary ballots make all the difference
Stuart Shapiro and Julia Rubin discuss her recent article on the role of political machines in New Jersey and how the design of ballots favor some candidates over others.
NJ Primary Ballots Bamboozle Voters With ‘The Line,’ Experts Say
Many residents have been worrying about the reliability of mail-in ballots during the COVID-19 crisis. But there’s a much deeper problem that needs to be put in the spotlight, some advocates allege … the ballot itself. “The primary ballots that millions of New Jersey...