Ballots in New Jersey’s upcoming Democratic primary will have a different look following a court ruling. NBC10’s Lauren Mayk explains the changes.
Voters in New Jersey will see newly designed ballots in the upcoming June 4 primary elections with different layouts depending on a voter's party affiliation.
The change comes after Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and others filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the state's so-called county line system of primary ballot design.
A judge ruled in Kim's favor, saying the county line system favors Democrat party-backed candidates. Republican candidates -- as their ballots were not part of this lawsuit -- will still use the county line system.
The county line system -- a one-of-a-kind ballot design unique to New Jersey -- groups candidates on ballots with party support in a single column.
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Because of this, the court found that the names of those running without establishment backing could be more difficult for voters to find on a ballot.
Now, Democratic primary ballots will be organized by the office a candidate is seeking -- a layout that's done similarly in other states.
NBC10's Lauren Mayk spoke with John Schmidt, the deputy county clerk who redesigned the Democratic primary ballots for Camden County.
He said the changes caused some late nights at his office.
"It was very late nights," he said. "I was up until two o'clock in the morning, like three or four nights in a row trying to hash this out."
And, he said, the difference in layout between the Republican and Democratic party ballots has caused some confusion among voters ahead of the upcoming primaries.
"We're getting a lot of questions about the ballot just because there are different looks between the Democrat and Republican ballots," he said.
To help voters in the state, who might be used to the county line system, Schmidt said that he has been telling them to look for slogans -- as Democratic candidates can still run with slogans, even if they aren't groups together with others under that same banner on ballots -- to find the candidates they are looking for.
"We’re telling them to pay attention to the slogans that are with each of them and follow them to find similar and similarly bracketed candidates," said Schmidt.
In the end, the new system is only in place for the primary and the future of the county line system in other elections is still unclear.
"They are either going to have to have a legislative fix or there's going to be a court decision that's going to tell us how to move forward," said Schmidt.
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