Ravi Bhalla seeks end of ‘county line’ primary in New Jersey
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Arun Kumar- 0
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Ravi Bhalla
Indian American Mayor of Hoboken Ravi Bhalla has joined an amicus curiae brief in support of Congressman Andy Kim’s lawsuit to end the “county party line” and to provide the injunctive relief needed to do so in time for the June primary election.
“The ballot favoritism given to candidates endorsed by the county political parties is not only undemocratic; it deters good people from running. doing a grave disservice to the voters who are denied real choices,” said Ravi Bhalla. “It results in a system where too much power is in the hands of a select few and often unelected party leaders.”
Bhalla filed the brief Tuesday with Jersey City Councilman James Solomon, Joe Cohn, Staci Berger, and Valerie Vainieri Huttle. The Court will determine whether to accept the brief and include it among the materials that will inform its decision.
Bhalla is challenging the incumbent, Rob Menendez Jr in the Democratic Primary for New Jersey’s 8th Congressional district seat.
“Amicus Curiae are all individuals who all have firsthand experience running, planning to run, or currently running in primary campaigns throughout the State of New Jersey providing them special interest in constitutionality of ‘county line’ system voting,” the filers wrote.
The proposed amicus brief would be helpful to the Court by providing firsthand experience on the harms Plaintiffs’ allege in the use of “county line” system for primary balloting, they wrote.
This includes the negative Line effects of the “weight of the Line,” the “primacy effect,” “disadvantage for unbracketed candidates,” “ballot gaps between candidates running for the same office/Ballot Siberia,” and/or “forced association” described in Plaintiffs’ Motion.
None of the amicus are submitting this brief as sign of endorsement or disapproval to any of the parties to the litigation, they wrote. “The amicus pursuit in this case is a single one: ensuring fair and democratic primaries throughout the State of New Jersey.”
READ: Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla receives death threats (February 19, 2018)
New Jersey’s unique primary ballot design structures ballots around the county line. Other states organize their primary ballots around the electoral position being sought, such as Senator or Governor, with candidates listed beneath or immediately to the right of each electoral position.
In New Jersey, counties organize their primary ballots around a group of candidates endorsed by either the Democratic or Republican Party.
These groups of county party endorsed candidates are referred to as the “county line” or the “party line,” because they are presented on the ballot as a vertical or horizontal line of names, with a candidate included for every office.
READ: Indian American Ravi Bhalla wins Hoboken mayoral election (November 8, 2017)
The county line generally receives prime location in one of the first columns or rows on the ballot. Candidates not on the county line are placed in other columns or rows, sometimes far away from the county line candidates.