On March 29, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi ruled that the New Jersey county line ballot was unconstitutional and needed to be fixed. Progressives and democracy advocates statewide celebrated the news and the arrival at long last of office block ballots. This format, which is used in the rest of the country, groups candidates by the office they seek. Having participated in elections for many years now, we at South Jersey Progressive Dems are well aware of how the county line consolidates power for the machine and has contributed to unfair contests, phantom candidates, and plenty of voter confusion! We were thrilled by the news of the end of the line!

Though initially county clerks throughout the state seemed poised to appeal the decision, claiming they wouldn’t be able to fix the ballot in time for the election, eventually every county dropped out of the appeal—-except Camden County. The Camden County Democratic Committee continued to fight against a fair ballot. The Camden County Democratic Committee took their battle for the continuation of the boss ballot to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philly where they lost. Quraishi’s ruling was upheld.

But even when ordered by two different courts to support a fair ballot, the Camden County Dems still refuse to comply. The ballot Camden County designed and mailed to voters contains large bold-faced numbers next to each candidate’s name. Though it was initially unclear why Camden County added these numbers, it has since become clear that it is an electioneering scheme. A separate Camden County Democratic Committee mailer tells voters to “know our numbers,” in essence assembling the line Judge Quraishi found unconstitutional. The Camden County Democratic Committee also omitted the US Senate race from their material entirely! We guess they’re still angry at Andy Kim for challenging them and their corrupt system.

When members of South Jersey Progressive Democrats contacted the County Clerk’s office about the use of these giant numbers on the ballot, the Clerk’s office said they saw no issue and they would not be revising. In essence, a fair ballot, one free of any visual items of confusion for voters, is not something they are interested in. We have no intention of letting them disregard the fair ballot they are supposed to be implementing. Please join us in sending a message to the Camden County Clerk’s office and the Camden County Democratic Committee and remind them they are not above the law. They need to comply with the ruling for a fair ballot!