Statement on behalf of Fair Ballot Alliance NJ by Marie Henselder Kimmel and Uyen”Winn” Khuong

Fair Ballot Alliance NJ applauds the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Quraishi to grant injunctive relief against use of the county line in June’s primary election in Kim v Nolan today. We want to re-emphasize our position that New Jersey’s voters should determine nominations in primary elections — and that this requires a fair office block ballot. Recently, there has been intense focus on the twists and turns of politicians and political process but little mention of how voters view the controversy over the county line ballot. Voters overwhelmingly want office block ballots. An appeal of the Judge’s decision — which would presumably use taxpayer money to pay a bevy of lawyers — would consist of cynical use of our money to try to take away our rights.

In our experience as voters in New Jersey, we know that county party chairpersons do not make themselves easily available to average voters from their political party, nor do they regularly seek, or even accept, feedback from voters. Our state-wide grassroots coalition decided to bridge that communication gap. We have been conducting voter education outreach and have gathered signatures on petitions to the chairpersons of both parties asking for the use of a fair ballot design in the 2024 primary election. Through face to face conversations, informal community presentations, and social media posts, we highlighted the fact that New Jersey is the only state that uses the county line ballot design – a design that allows party insiders to strongly sway election results to favor endorsed candidates.

Our grassroots volunteers encountered two reactions from voters across the political spectrum: first, we found that the overwhelming majority of New Jersey voters did not know that no other state uses ballots like ours, and second, they did not approve of political insiders’ use of the line ballot to give a special advantage to favored candidates. Many voters expressed feeling deceived but not surprised that the political party bosses utilize such a maneuver as a power grab. And New Jersey voters are staunchly opposed to their votes essentially being reduced to rubber stamps.

With no funding and an all-volunteer effort, since January, we have sent out thousands of postcards to voters and collected 2,109 signatures opposing the county line and calling for an office block ballot from registered voters around the state. We are transmitting the petitions to the respective chairpersons of each signer’s county of residence. New Jersey Citizen Action also reports that 520 New Jersey citizens emailed county chairpersons asking them to end use of the line and adopt office block ballots to “give New Jersey voters a more meaningful role in the choice of candidates seeking nomination.”

Candidates only need 1000 signatures to run for the U.S. Senate. Just as voters signed candidates’ petitions to register their support to nominate Senate candidates to run for office, voters signed our petitions to register support for the use of fair office block ballots in New Jersey primary elections. Our petition for a fair ballot collected almost double the number of nomination signatures filed by each of the Senate candidates Curtis Bashaw, Christine Serrano Glassner and Tammy Murphy (before she suspended her campaign).

The groups in our alliance will continue our voter education to expand the number of voices calling for a stronger democracy in our state. New Jersey’s legislative leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties just last week acknowledged the need for examination of the ballot design. Fair Ballot Alliance NJ strongly encourages our county clerks and our state lawmakers to honor the will of New Jersey voters and reform our ballots to meet the standard of office block design for all elections in New Jersey as soon as possible.

The Fair Ballot Alliance New Jersey is a statewide coalition of grassroots groups calling for a fair primary election for the US Senate election in 2024 and, ultimately, the adoption of a FAIR “office block” ballot design for all elections in New Jersey.
www.fairballotalliancenj.org

Marie HenselderKimmel MD is the Founder of NJ Voters Want More Say, a nonpartisan citizen group created in December 2023 to focus on reforms to give more power to New Jersey voters.

Uyen “Winn” Khuong is the Executive Director of Action Together New Jersey, a nonprofit civic organization that led the largest expansion of Vote By Mail, voting rights with “Ballot Cure”, and ballot access with secure ballot drop boxes. She is also a Board Member of The National Vote at Home Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
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