There’s just one meeting left for the Assembly’s ballot design committee, scheduled for Monday, and ideas of what to expect in the Assembly proposal are just starting to percolate.
While there’s no draft of a bill yet, and the ideas haven’t gotten very specific, right now lawmakers are talking about some basic elements of the block ballots.
— Bracketing: While the old form of bracketing all candidates with county commissioner candidates to form the “county line” is clearly out the window, lawmakers will likely attempt to preserve the right of candidates for Assembly, county commissioner and other local offices to be able to bracket with their same-office running mates.
— Slogans: Lawmakers will likely look to prevent other candidates not endorsed by the party from using ballot slogans that might give the impression they are. This could mean candidates not endorsed by county organizations would be barred from putting “Democratic Party” in their slogans. Lawmakers are cognizant that this can raise First Amendment issues, but one person I spoke to said to just expect them to codify legal precedent.
— Petition signatures thresholds: It requires 100 signatures to run for the state Legislature in New Jersey. Expect that and maybe the petition requirement for other offices to increase.
— Incumbency: There’s been talk of denoting incumbents on the primary ballot, but it’s not clear how. Asterisks? Bold font? What’s clear is lawmakers want to do something — though I’m told Connecticut’s system of listing party-endorsed candidates at the top and with an asterisk is probably a no-go.
Meanwhile, Republicans on the committee in their questioning have suggested eliminating bracketing not just for primary elections, but for the general election as well. I don’t get the sense that Democrats would go along with that.
Lawmakers face pretty strict limits on what they can do, as they’ll need to comport with Judge Zahid Quraishi’s decision. And the Senate still hasn’t weighed in. Still, critics of New Jersey’s boss-driven political system suspect they’re try to gain any advantage they can.
“Anything they’re doing, they’re doing to maintain some favoritism for them, some advantage on the ballot, which means it’s not a fair ballot,” said Rutgers Professor Julia Sass Rubin, whose research was cited in overturning the county line. “The point of the ballot is to have a fair way for voters to indicate their preference.”