United States—A federal appeals court affirmed a lower court judge’s decision to temporarily pause the New Jersey state ballot design. The design is associated with helping candidates with party establishment support.
Third Circuit Rejects Appeal
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia refused to entertain an appeal by New Jersey County clerks of the recent order by U.S District Judge Zahid Quraishi that preliminarily enjoin the officials on the way they prepare election ballot papers. The Friday court ruling will allow Quraishi’s order to stand before the June 4 primary, as discussed.
The higher court decisions on February 2nd are just the small steps of developments covering how the state’s elections are implemented. Quraishi, who spoke over the weekend, made it clear that his decision would only affect the Democratic primary and not the Republican primary, as reported by The Associated Press.
Lawsuit Challenges County-Line Primary System
Former Democratic Congressman Andy Kim filed the suit in conjunction with his campaign to replace the allegedly corrupt Democratic senator, Bob Menendez. Kim, along with two other Democratic candidates, filed the suit in federal court to stop New Jersey’s county-line primary system.
New Jersey is the only state that lists its candidates on the ballot with the county party’s endorsement candidate united in one column and others listed on separate entries. Kim and, of course, many political advisors in New Jersey maintain that a system of taking the helm of party-financed individuals means the privilege of demoting others to “ballot Siberia.”
Quraishi said that the governor’s orderly action to stop a private election management vendor from using the system for the June primary is a good one. However, further actions remain unclear.
Kim’s suit came out of a senate race she was in against the First Lady of NJ, Tammy Murphy, and she has since refused to run for that post, which has made it to the advantage of Kim.
Controversy Surrounds Influence of Party Endorsements
To prove his point, he asserted that since the majority of party bosses in populous counties supported Murphy, she got the upper hand, and her name appeared in a favorable position. Kim has become the prominent competing candidate in the party, vowing to battle on the county line system despite having established himself.
Of course, that way, it complies with the progressives in the party who have been against the county line system for years; “they have contested that in this system, the decisions about who to nominate are made by the influential party leaders in closed rooms where no one can see.”
However, Republicans were not originally parties into the case; though had lately petitioned the Quraishi to include them. He refused their plea, declaring they had missed a cut-off date.
GOP’s Bid for Inclusion Denied
New Jersey hasn’t elected a Republican Senator in the past 50 years, but the GOP is hopeful that its opponents might be hurt by the second corruption trial that Menendez has heard such a title. He has pleaded not guilty that he received bribes in cash, gold bars, and a luxury car for facilitation favor to his companies that won a lucrative contract from Egypt, as reported by The Associated Press.
New Jersey has almost a million more registered Democrats than Republicans.
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