New Jersey Coalition Kicks Off Campaign for Ballot Reform

A coalition of activists kicked off a campaign Saturday to change the way New Jersey’s ballot is designed. 

Better Ballots NJ is circulating a resolution that any organization or elected body can sign that calls on the state legislature to reform the preferential placement of candidates on the ballot.

New Jersey is the only state in the country where the candidates are not grouped by the office they are seeking. Instead, many ballots have a "county line" --  where those with the county party committee endorsement share a line together. Research has shown the county line gives an advantage to entrenched party insiders.

Better Ballots NJ launched their campaign with a Zoom meeting attended by 96 people from across the state,  most of them representing organizations in New Jersey as well as three candidates who challenged incumbent congressmen last summer. 

"The same small group of power brokers continue to stay in power and it's almost impossible to move the needle unless you have a tsunami of change," said Arati Kreibich,  who challenged Congressman Josh Gottheimer in the Democratic primary last summer.