Federal judge unsure about New Jersey AG's claims on ballot design in Senate race lawsuit

TRENTON, New Jersey — Federal District Judge Zahid Quraishi said Monday that he is unsure whether he will consider the New Jersey attorney general's claims that the state's unique party line system is unconstitutional in deciding a lawsuit seeking to dismantle the controversial ballot design.

The outcome of that lawsuit could have major implications in the state's Senate race to replace Bob Menendez, but it could also fundamentally rewrite politics in New Jersey.

In a bombshell legal filing Sunday afternoon, Attorney General Matt Platkin said that laws allowing what's known as the party line are unconstitutional and that the state does not plan to defend them in court. The line is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Rep. Andy Kim and two other congressional candidates.

Kim, who is running for Senate to replace the indicted Menendez, is suing 19 county clerks and seeking a preliminary injunction to eliminate the party line in the state for the June primary. He is in a heated Democratic primary against first lady Tammy Murphy.

The “line” is shorthand for New Jersey’s unique ballot design that places candidates endorsed by county political parties in a single column on primary ballots. Candidates who win the so-called line have a significant advantage in primary elections, studies have shown.

“I don’t know if I should consider that letter at all,” Quraishi said from the bench on Monday in an all-day hearing in a packed courtroom. Quraishi noted that Platkin is not intervening in the case, adding that “he’s lobbing his opinion from the cheap seats.”

“He’s trying to backdoor his opinion without getting into the case,” he said.

Angelo Genova, an attorney representing a handful of county clerks named as defendants in the case, told the judge that Platkin’s letter was a “litigation grenade.”

Quraishi gave both sides until Friday to submit legal filings on whether he should consider Platkin’s opinion on the constitutionality of the line in the lawsuit. Gov. Phil Murphy has publicly disagreed with Platkin’s decision.

Kim provided sworn testimony for around an hour, describing his first run for congress in 2018 and seeking county lines. He said he felt forced to run on the line to be successful in elections.

Kim said that prospective candidates would drop their election bids if they did not win the line, which he said hurt the democratic process.

“The whole point of democracy is to give the people a choice and be able to have the decision be made by the people,” Kim said. “If there are elements limiting that, I find that to be adverse to the pursuit of democracy.”

The line could also force Kim to appear on the primary ballot in the same column with Democrats who are opposing his Senate candidacy. He cited Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) by name, who is strongly supporting Murphy for Senate. Because Kim and Pallone won the Monmouth County Democratic convention, they’ll appear on the same column on the ballot in parts of the county Pallone represents (unless Pallone decides to eschew the party endorsement to run with Murphy).

An attorney for the defendants said Kim could create a rival line — recruiting candidates up and down the ballot so he can also appear more prominently — although Kim said that doing so was unrealistic. Kim noted that this year is a presidential election year, where President Joe Biden will appear at the top of the ballot column.

“You think I can create a separate county bracket that is going to have the kind of name recognition as Joe Biden?” he said. “There’s no comparison there … I can find someone to run for President of the United States but it's not the sitting President of the United States."

Kim's lawsuit could reshape New Jersey politics in the state should he prevail. Quraishi acknowledged that there are political ramifications as he sharply questioned the attorneys for the plaintiffs and defendants on Monday, although it is unclear how and when he would rule.

“Those political concerns, however important they may be to you, have absolutely no bearing on [my] ultimate decision in this case,” he said.

Quraishi disputed the idea that anyone should “read the tea leaves” that he’s made a predetermined decision on the case based on the fast-moving pace of the preliminary injunction request.

“The plaintiffs are saying there’s a fire and they’d rather us not wait for the house to burn down for us to put it out,” he said.

Genova said that it is “not feasible” to grant a preliminary injunction and that changing the design of primary ballots “can’t be done” in time for the June primary. Genova added that Kim should have filed the lawsuit in November to give the proper time runway.

Dave Passante, who works at a company that prints ballots for 11 counties in the state, testified that it would be “chaos” if there changes to the ballot design for the June primary.

“It really would turn our world upside down. It’s putting us into a situation of unfamiliarity,” he said.

Flavio Komuves, an attorney for Kim, told the judge that county clerks could finalize the ballot designs by April 20 to meet the deadline for the June primary. Quraishi could theoretically move the primary election date, although he did not mention that possibility during the hearing.

Genova also said that changing the ballot structure could confuse voters and that “this has been [the] ballot structure [in New Jersey] for 100 years.” Quraishi said that the fact the state has long used the party line ballot design would not factor into his decision.

“100 years or 200 years of this ballot system will not convince me," he said.

Every county party differs in how the line is awarded. In some, hundreds of low-level elected party officials can vote by secret ballot on who they want the party to endorse, while in others a single party boss can decide who gets the favorable ballot positioning. Murphy has the line in a majority of the state, since she has the backing of party leaders in counties that are more top-down in their endorsement process.

Kim has been able to win the line in counties where it is democratically awarded, although he remains at a disadvantage since he doesn’t have the “line” in most of the state.

Debate over the line has dominated the conversation in the Senate race, and more elected officials have come out against the controversial ballot design, such as Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, both 2025 gubernatorial candidates.

Speaking with reporters outside the courthouse after he testified, Kim said that the discussion around the line itself could change politics in the state.

“The amount of discontent that is now being raised by people all across Jersey politics, candidates and elected officials and past candidates … it's pretty extraordinary,” Kim told reporters. “Regardless of what happens in the courtroom, I think Jersey politics is going to be different going forward one way or another.”