CWA Aids in Lawsuit Leading Federal Judge to Strike Down NJ’s Unfair Election Ballot System

In a huge step forward for New Jersey voters, on March 29th a federal judge struck down New Jersey’s unique—and controversial—electoral ballot line system that has favored party-backed candidates and made it harder for insurgent candidates to make any headway in primary elections.

Unlike every other state in the country, New Jersey’s Primary Election ballots have been designed to feature county party-endorsed candidates in one column and place their less-preferred candidates far off to the side, making them harder to be seen by voters and significantly hurting their chances at the polls—and making it nearly impossible to have real primary elections in New Jersey.

No one knows better than us that free and fair elections are a cornerstone of our Democracy, and that working families deserve a fair electoral system. CWA has been a longtime advocate for ending this practice—commonly referred to as “the Line”—and in 2021 together with our allies at the NJ Working Families Party, we helped file a lawsuit seeking to abolish it. We provided vital research for the case, including our findings that “no state legislative incumbent on the line had lost a primary election in New Jersey between 2009 and 2018. Although incumbents generally win reelection, that advantage is rarely so absolute. In New York State, for example, twenty-two state legislative incumbents lost primary elections through 2018 and additional ones lost in 2020.”

On March 29th, a federal judge ruled in a separate lawsuit to end the system and force New Jersey election officials to use the same system as the rest of the country: listing primary candidates for the same race in a single list in randomized order, giving every candidate a fair shot.

And earlier today, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the District Court's ruling striking down the county line in this year's Democratic primary​.​

This fight isn’t over yet—there may be appeals to the judge’s ruling that will have to be played out—but this is a huge step forward in making our Democratic system more fair for all.