New Jersey election officials prepare new look for primary polls – NBC10 Philadelphia

New Jersey voters will see newly designed ballots in the upcoming June 4 primary election, with different layouts based on the voter’s party affiliation.

The change comes after Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and others filed a lawsuit seeking to end the state’s county redistricting system for designing primary ballots.

A judge ruled in favor of Kim, saying the district system favors candidates backed by the Democratic Party. Republican candidates – since their ballots were not part of this trial – will still use the county redistricting system.

The county redistricting system – a unique voting design unique to New Jersey – groups candidates on ballots with party support into a single column.

For this reason, the court reasoned that the names of those running without establishment support might be harder for voters to find on a ballot.

Now, Democratic primary ballots will be organized based on the position the candidate is seeking — a setup that is similar 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 have caused late nights at his office.

“It was very late at night,” he said. “I stayed up until two in the morning, three or four nights in a row, trying to solve this problem.”

And, he added, the difference in presentation between Republican and Democratic party ballots has caused some confusion among voters as the upcoming primaries approach.

“We get a lot of questions about the ballot just because there are differences between the Democratic and Republican ballots,” he said.

To help the state’s voters, who might be accustomed to the district system, Schmidt said he told them to look for slogans, because Democratic candidates can still run with slogans, even if they don’t form not groups with others. under that same banner on the ballots — to find the candidates they’re looking for.

“We tell them to pay attention to the taglines that come with each one and follow them to find similar, similarly ranked candidates,” Schmidt said.

Ultimately, the new system is only in place for primaries, and the future of the county redistricting system for other elections is still unclear.

“Either they will have to pass a legislative solution or there will be a court decision that tells us how to move forward,” Schmidt said.