Amani Al-Khatahtbeh Calls Out Problematic N.J. Ballot

First Muslim Woman on N.J. Ballot is Only Candidate Pushed to Margins

NEW JERSEY — Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, candidate in New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District, took to social media on Monday to call out the problematic ballot placement in her district.

“Look at this. I want you to bear witness to this,” she tweeted. “I’m the first Muslim woman to run for Congress in NJ & I’m the ONLY CANDIDATE on the entire ballot pushed to the last column.”

She accompanied her tweet with an image of the sample mail-in ballot, on which she is in Column E. All the rest of the candidates are grouped in Columns A and B, with blank spaces in columns C and D, forming a physical divide on the page.

“Even when we overcome barriers of entry, they still try to keep us at the margins,” she continued. “It’s so symbolic.”

Mail-in ballots were sent out last week in accordance with Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order to conduct the primary as majority vote-by-mail, in response to the COVID-19 crisis. All voters that are registered with the Democratic Party will receive a mail-in ballot to vote in the primary on July 7.

“Stay woke about how they keep our voices disenfranchised,” Al-Khatahtbeh said in a follow-up tweet. This comes after she had spent the past two weeks addressing multiple crowds about racial injustice in a series of George Floyd protests in N.J.

Al-Khatahtbeh is on the ballot challenging 16-term incumbent Rep. Frank Pallone, whose absence Al-Khatahtbeh repeatedly invoked at the protests along with his voting record in favor of the 1994 Crime Bill.

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BACKGROUND:

Al-Khatahtbeh is a first-generation American and native New Jerseyan. She is a proud graduate of Rutgers University’s school of political science which resides in New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District. She is the daughter of an immigrant and a refugee, proud parents who worked hard to put her and her brothers through school by running a small, local business.

Amani is the founder of MuslimGirl.com, the most influential online platform for Muslim women’s voices in Western society, and the global #MuslimWomensDay campaign. Amani became the first veiled Muslim woman to land on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 media list and was named one of  CNN’s 25 most influential American Muslims at the age of 25.