The "Hot Mess" Of New Jersey's Election Ballots
Progressive activists across New Jersey are mounting a campaign to change the way election ballots are designed because, they say, the current system gives preferential treatment to political insiders and the donors who support their campaigns.
New Jersey's ballot is such a hot mess, said Sue Altman, director of New Jersey Working Families. They vary county by county, and each county has its own process to decide who gets the preferential treatment on the ballot.
New Jersey is holding its first statewide vote-by-mail primary on July 7th. Even though COVID-19 has made 2020 a difficult and unusual election year all over the country, the Garden State has its own unique problems that predate the pandemic.
A coalition of activists, election lawyers, researchers, and public policy experts say the state has the most convoluted ballot design in the whole country.
I am not seeing anything that even closely resembles what we do, said Julia Sass Rubin, professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. She collected ballot samples from multiple counties in all 50 states.
https://gothamist.com/news/hot-mess-new-jerseys-election-ballots