Rutgers University professor Julia Sass Rubin said the county line’s demise has led to more candidates, an uptick in voter turnout, and 11% of the 57 Democrats in the Assembly winning their seats despite not getting a county party endorsement. “This feels like small steps, but they’re not. … Ending the county line opens up the possibility for real reform in our state,” Rubin said.
Topic
ballot
NJ primary 2025: Results highlight weaker party machines
Julia Sass Rubin noted that for decades, the county line had been the key tool enabling political machines to dominate elections, but this year’s results—where party-endorsed candidates lost in multiple counties and Assembly races—demonstrated that voter choice was no longer being structurally constrained.
If the primary election was an ‘earthquake’ for New Jersey, the epicenter was in Camden County
Julia Sass Rubin described the June 2025 New Jersey primary as a historic turning point in state politics, signaling the erosion of long-entrenched county party control following the elimination of the controversial county line system.
County clerks forge ahead with new ballot design
New Jersey Democratic primary voters will see ballots that look very different from what they are used to and also different from the ones Republican voters will see. County clerks are designing ballots for the June election to comply with the recent federal court...
Let’s Keep Focus on “The Line” in NJ Politics
If you’re not in-the-know, The Line is where you want to be on the ballot if you’re running for office in New Jersey. Candidates granted The Line by NJ’s political gatekeepers are almost assured of victory, especially in a primary election. That’s why NJ’s powerful political machines invest so much time and treasure into determining who gets the line and (perhaps more importantly) who doesn’t.
Should Holmdel voters dump parties and elect the mayor? They decide next week
According to Julia Sass Rubin, professor of public policy at Rutgers University, who gave a presentation to the commission, candidates on the “county line,” which is the column for candidates endorsed by the local Democratic or Republican party committees, have an...
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...
Walking the Line: New Jersey Ballots, Candidates and Voters
Join Eagleton and the Bloustein School for a discussion on ballot design, candidate representation, and encouraging voter participation in New Jersey elections.
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...
Tuesday’s primary election is rigged for the old guard
“This year only 10 percent of the seats in the Legislature are being contested,” says Julia Sass Rubin, an associate professor at Rutgers. “This is a toxic system, and it limits who will run.” And who will win. No state legislator has lost a primary since...