A lawyer representing county clerks in New Jersey has requested that a judge delay his landmark decision of scrapping the state’s county-line ballot design, a system that critics say has given tremendous weight to establishment candidates at the expense of outsiders. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
JUDGE BLOCKS NJ BALLOT DESIGN PANNED FOR ALLEGED PRO-ESTABLISHMENT FAVORITISM
"Implementing an entirely new style of ballot in five business days presents an undue risk to the administration of this year’s primary elections," Parikh wrote to Judge Quraishi on behalf of 15 of the state’s county clerks, according to The New York Times.
The clerks were defendants in the suit and had already argued that they didn't have enough time to redesign the ballots before the June primaries.
Quraishi ruled on Friday that New Jersey must scrap the system, which has been widely criticized as boosting the prospects of party-backed candidates.
The landmark ruling means that New Jersey ballots will have to be redesigned before its June primary, upending a longstanding balloting practice that has been a source of immense electoral power for the state’s Democratic and Republican political machines.
In his ruling, Judge Quraishi said that candidates who sued to request a redesign of the ballot had proved that their constitutional rights had been violated by the current ballot design, which brackets party-backed candidates in the same column.
"The court wishes to make clear that it recognizes the magnitude of this decision. The integrity of the democratic process for a primary election is at stake," Judge Quraishi wrote in a 49-page decision.
Rep. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, challenged the ballot design. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Seeing something ‘impossible’ happen leaves you with that feeling. We still have obstacles and challenges ahead, but I promise you I will keep fighting to do everything I can to permanently fix our broken politics. We fight not just for fair elections but all other important reforms needed to heal our democracy. So let’s use the progress today to recommit ourselves to fighting for the change we need in NJ and our country."
Voters will now see candidates listed under the offices they are seeking in a discrete section of the ballot, as is done in the 49 other states, with no shared columns or rows between candidates for different offices.
The ruling was also met with pushback by the Morris County Republican Committee, which wrote to Judge Quraishi indicating that it interpreted his ruling as applying only to Democratic primaries on June 4, according to the New York Times.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/landmark-nj-ballot-redesign-ruling-put-hold