Appeals court leaves temporary hold on New Jersey’s county line primary ballot design in place

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a lower court’s decision to order New Jersey Democrats tp scrap a ballot design widely viewed as helping candidates with establishment backing.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals considered a slimmed-down appeal brought by the Camden County Democrats after the county clerks — the officials charged with designing ballots in New Jersey — dropped out of the appeal of a lower court’s temporary injunction.

The appeals court’s decision means that U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi’s order requiring clerks to stop using the so-called county line ballot, which lists candidates with political party support in a single column and often relegates others to “ballot Siberia” will stand.

But that court’s order far from resolves the issue in New Jersey, which had been unique in the country for using the county line style ballots. Quraishi’s order applies only to the Democratic primary on June 4 because Republicans sought to join the lawsuit after a deadline passed.

Once a pillar of politics in the state, the county line ballot began showing signs of crumbling this year. Senate candidate Democratic Rep. Andy Kim brought the lawsuit with House candidates Sarah Schoengood and Carolyn Rush, alleging that the system unfairly helped those with party backing get preferential ballot placement. Soon after, state Attorney General Matt Platkin said he found the county line to be unconstitutional.

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