A ballot fight in New Jersey nears an end as 2 counties prepare settlement for new design

Two New Jersey counties are on the verge of settling a constitutional challenge to New Jersey’s controversial “county line” ballot structure after a four-year legal battle, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

The upcoming settlements with the plaintiffs suggest that New Jersey’s decades-old ballot structure that has given a major advantage to its county political organizations on primary ballots may be on the way out for good.

The New Jersey Working Families Party — the lead plaintiff in the original lawsuit — suggested that an agreement was imminent.

"New Jersey Working Families is in discussions with a number of parties to reach a positive resolution in our ... case that secures long-term reforms to strengthen our electoral system," Antoinette Miles, the group’s state director, said in a statement to POLITICO. "It is a positive development that certain county clerks are beginning to recognize the inevitability of a fair primary ballot design. We are on the cusp of abolishing the line forever and returning power to New Jersey voters."

The proposed settlements between the two counties — Burlington and Middlesex — and plaintiffs would still need to be approved by a federal judge and are expected to be formally submitted later this week. Those two counties are in the process of finalizing the settlements, said people with knowledge of the agreements who were granted anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations .

The Burlington County Commissioners are expected to approve the settlement agreement during their meeting tonight.

New Jersey has long been the only state in which primary ballots are designed using the “county line,” in which the candidates endorsed by the county’s Democratic and Republican political parties are grouped together in one column or row, from the highest federal office to the lowest local office. Candidates not endorsed by the parties are sometimes put in hard-to-find places known as “ballot Siberia.”

A federal judge earlier this year suspended the use of the county line in the Democratic primary and ordered the use of office block ballots after a lawsuit led by Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) as he ran for Senate.

The settlements are expected to require that county clerks will organize primary candidates by office sought, not in columns or rows, and that candidates will randomly draw for positions. The settlements are also expected to include provisions barring clerks from placing candidates on obscure sections of the ballot.

The agreement would be superseded if the New Jersey Legislature passes a new law on ballot structure, which legislative leaders have vowed to do. It would also be voided if a court found that the counties did not have authority to enter the agreements or that a lack of a county line is unconstitutional.

The agreements are expected to require office block ballots if future design laws are found invalid by the courts.

The pending settlements could offer a blueprint to other counties and could raise political pressure for them to settle.

In 2020, a coalition of progressive groups and six Democratic candidates filed a challenge to the constitutionality of the ballot structure, saying it violated freedom of association and equal protection, among other things. The case languished for years until the spring, when Kim launched his Senate campaign to succeed the indicted Sen. Bob Menendez.

Kim, who was running against the wishes of most of the state’s Democratic power brokers, filed a separate lawsuit challenging the line’s constitutionality. In a stunning decision, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi granted Kim’s request for a preliminary injunction, ordering office blocks be used for the 2024 Democratic primary. Kim won easily after his chief rival — first lady Tammy Murphy — dropped her candidacy (before the court decision).

Quraishi’s decision did not apply to the Republican primary. In that Senate contest, Republican rivals Curtis Bashaw and Christine Serrano Glassner each won every county in which they were awarded the county line, with Bashaw — who had the most lines — prevailing.