DESCRIPTION

U.S. Representative and candidate for U.S. Senate Andy Kim, alongside other candidates, sued Christine Giordano Hanlon and eighteen other county clerks in their official capacities. Kim et al. argue that New Jersey’s county line system of ballot design violates the First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  

ELC, as amicus curiae, filed a brief supporting Kim et al. In its brief, filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey on March 12, 2024, ELC explains that other courts have routinely applied heightened scrutiny to, and invalidated, electoral regulations with far less extreme effects than the county line. Importantly, ELC highlights that other courts have frequently struck down ballot primacy laws—another form of ballot design—with impacts far smaller than that of the county line. Finally, ELC clarifies that New Jersey's county line is distinct from party endorsements, meaning that parties will remain free to endorse candidates of their choice if the county line is eliminated.  

BACKGROUND

New Jersey, in nineteen of its twenty-one counties, designs its primary ballots in a unique manner. All other states—and the two remaining New Jersey counties—organize their primary election ballots by the office sought (i.e., President, Vice President, and so on), with all candidates for that office listed side-by-side.  

The nineteen New Jersey counties being sued here, on the other hand, organize ballots instead by grouping, or “bracketing,” candidates together based on local endorsements. Accordingly, all the candidates endorsed by county party officials appear together in one column or row, hence the name “the county line.” Further, under New Jersey law, county party officials can place this “county line” at or near the top of the ballot.  

The combined result of these practices is a distinctive visual effect in which county party officials’ preferred candidates appear in one neat column or row at or near the top of the ballot, with all the other candidates strewn across the ballot in a haphazard manner with significant white space between them. Plaintiffs argue, and ELC agrees, that this design unjustifiably burdens the right to vote and therefore violates the U.S. Constitution.  

(Monmouth County ballot, Complaint ¶ 92)