The state’s powerful political machines, which have dominated Garden State politics and dictated its policies for much of the last century, lost their most potent tool — the “county line” primary ballot.
Topic
voting
New Jersey Ballot Ruling Applies Only to Democratic Race, Judge Says
“It’s just a hiccup,” Dr. Rubin said. “If this decision holds, it will completely upend New Jersey politics.”
A judge’s decision is sending shockwaves through N.J., where politics is ruled by backroom deals
It’s called the “county line” — and it’s been the stuff of backroom Jersey politics that allowed party bosses to play an outsized role for decades in determining the winners and losers on election day. Now, a federal judge may have changed all of that with a 49-page ruling Friday that sent shockwaves through the state and could forever curb the power of those bosses.
Federal ruling on ‘county line’ ballots draws praise
Julia Sass Rubin, a professor at Rutgers’ Edward J. Bloustein School of Public Policy whose analysis of the system proved damning, says the case is “just the beginning, assuming the decision holds, which I think it should and hope that it will. It’s really just the opening of the door.”
Here’s how Andy Kim’s bombshell court win will remake Jersey politics
“Democracy is about voters deciding,” says Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers professor and an expert witness in the federal suit that challenged the line. “We don’t need to be protected from democracy by four or five people who think they know better what’s good for us.”
Landmark NJ ballot redesign ruling asked to be put on hold
A lawyer representing county clerks in New Jersey has requested that a judge delay his landmark decision of scrapping the state’s county-line ballot design, a system that critics say has given tremendous weight to establishment candidates at the expense of outsiders.
Two Princeton Residents Help Bring Down New Jersey’s Party Bosses
In his March 29 opinion, Judge Quraishi said that he assigned Rubin’s testimony “substantial weight,” based on her “demeanor, manner in which she testified, and substance of her testimony which was corroborated by other evidence presented.”
NJ’s ballot line system is dead — the ‘magnitude’ will reverberate across politics
“It undermines the entire system of machine power,” Sass Rubin said. “It’s a different world. I just think you’ve taken away such a huge chunk of what they have to keep in power and really the only thing that makes us different.”
New Jersey’s Ballot Must Be Immediately Redesigned, Federal Judge Rules
One study by Julia Sass Rubin, an associate dean at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers, found that being on the county line gave congressional candidates an advantage of 38 percentage points.
New Jersey’s unique ballot design struck down by judge
“We are the last of the [political] machine states, and the machine relies on the county line to stay in control,” Rubin told The Washington Post last week. “If you displease the people who decide who gets the line,” you could lose your office, she said.
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Career Virtual Drop-ins
VirtualBloustein Career Development Specialists Cheryl Egan and Andrea Garrido will be in a Zoom Room on Monday's beginning January 22, 2024 (excluding holidays and spring break) to answer questions, provide […]
Bloustein Research Seminar Series: Community benefits: Developers, negotiations, and accountability
Bloustein School, Civic Square Building 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, United StatesPresented by Jovanna Rosen, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Rutgers-University Camden. This venue will enable our faculty to share research, build community, and extend our networks. Pizza will be served. […]
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Bloustein School, Civic Square Building 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, United StatesThe members of the 2023-24 Bloustein Honors Research Program cohort will be presenting their individual research projects in two formats.
Rutgers University–New Brunswick and Rutgers Health Commencement 2024
SHI StadiumJoin us for the 258th Anniversary Commencement at Rutgers University–New Brunswick and Rutgers Health on Sunday, May 12, 2024, at SHI Stadium, starting at 10 a.m. President Jonathan Holloway will preside over […]
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Jersey Mike's Arena 83 Rockefeller Road, Piscataway, NJ, United StatesThe formal BLOUSTEIN SCHOOL CONVOCATION ceremony will recognize each graduate individually with pomp and circumstance. Students will cross the stage and have their names read as they are recognized. Seating is general […]