Has New Jersey Reached the End of the Line?
October 25, 2024
By: Owen Williams
When New Jersey voters flocked to the polls this past June, their ballots looked unlike anything voters in the state had seen for decades. The monumental shift, which upended New Jersey Democrats’ primary nominating process, resulted from a federal judge striking down the state’s controversial ‘county line’ balloting system for the June 2024 primary. Whereas traditional ‘block ballots’ are used in 49 states, for years New Jersey has been the sole exception, instead placing candidates on organized ‘lines’ that heavily favored party-backed candidates above political outsiders. Opponents of the practice have long argued that the county line system entrenched political power in the hands of New Jersey’s powerful county Democratic machines, which are controlled by party bosses who often have sole authority over ballot placement.
Though the county line system had long fallen out of favor with electoral reform advocates, it was not until this year’s primary for the United States Senate that the practice was successfully challenged in court. Following incumbent Senator Bob Menendez’s indictment on bribery and obstruction of justice charges, South Jersey Congressman Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) quickly launched a bid for the Democratic nomination, making the move without consolidating support from New Jersey’s county Democratic committees. Kim was ultimately joined in the race by New Jersey’s First Lady Tammy Murphy, the wife of incumbent Governor Phil Murphy. The First Lady’s close connection to her husband and vast family fortune raised concerns that growing support for her candidacy among New Jersey’s democratic machines would be bolstered by the county line system and she would be placed on a glide path to the nomination.
LEFT: A New Jersey ‘county line’ primary ballot organized according to the endorsement of the county party. RIGHT: A traditional ballot that groups candidates by the office sought. Courtesy of Julia Sass Rubin and Rutgers University
In anticipation of the challenge the county line system presented to his candidacy, Congressman Kim sought an injunction in federal court to end the practice ahead of the June primary. However, following growing backlash to her candidacy in large part due to endorsements from state Democratic leaders that would offer her the prime position on many of the state’s ballots, Tammy Murphy suspended her bid for the Senate. The timing of Murphy’s withdrawal raised questions that the move was designed to keep the county line system in place, after both a judge and the plaintiffs raised concerns that the June primary was too close to make such a drastic change to ballots. With Murphy out of the June election, the case no longer needed to be decided in an expedited manner and the county line ballot system could remain in place indefinitely.
Nevertheless a decision was still handed down from Judge Zahid Quraishi of the Federal District Court of New Jersey, who sided with Kim in an order barring counties from using the county line system in the state’s upcoming June Democratic primary, requiring that they implement a system wherein candidates have an equal chance of appearing first on the ballot.
Kim’s campaign and pro-reform advocates lauded the decision as a win for democracy in New Jersey, with implications for other upcoming congressional primaries and the 2025 gubernatorial election in which Governor Murphy is term-limited. Despite an appeal from a number of county clerks and Democratic committees, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the injunction overturning the county line ballot, meaning that it would go into effect for the June Democratic primary. The ruling only applied to the Democratic primary, as Kim and the other plaintiffs did not ask for the injunction to extend to both parties.
During oral arguments at the Third Circuit, the judges held that “any harm to the state’s or the [appellee’s] interests is outweighed by the burdens on the Plaintiffs’ associational rights.” They were not swayed by arguments that the county line system should be upheld on the basis that the New Jersey Supreme Court had approved its usage in the past, citing that New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin also believes the system to be unconstitutional.
However Kim v. Hanlon’s initial effects will be somewhat limited as Quraishi’s injunction applied only to the 2024 Democratic primaries per Kim’s suit. However a separate case seeking to strike down the county line system in perpetuity is still moving forward, with the Third Circuit judges saying that “based on the record developed in the District Court, there is a very substantial likelihood that the Plaintiffs will succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claims.” With Judge Quraishi overseeing the second lawsuit, those hopes seem well founded.
Though the future of the county line system in New Jersey is not yet clear, just this month New Jersey’s Burlington and Middlesex counties reached a formal settlement with Kim’s lawyers to end their usage of the county line system. While it remains to be seen whether or not the practice will be banned throughout New Jersey, the county line system and the state’s Democratic machines have been dealt a significant blow that was unthinkable just one year ago.