Democratic senator joins fight to end ‘party line’ on NJ ballots

Posted by Jennifer von Estorff
May 06, 2023

Global State Teams Coordinator; Germany DPCA Voting Rep; Göttingen-Hannover Region Chapter Chair

Democratic senator joins fight to end ‘party line’ on NJ ballots

Article from JOANNA GAGIS, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT | FEBRUARY 3, 2023 | NJ DECIDES 2023, POLITICS

State Sen. Shirley Turner introduces bill to end the practice, reduce power of local party bosses

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It’s a quirk of New Jersey ballots each election — the “party line” that both major political parties in almost every county in the state use to get their preferred candidates printed in one column down the ballot. Activists and outsiders have long slammed “the line” as a tool used by the political establishment to give their favorites a prime spot and put challengers at a disadvantage.

“The party line is really bad for New Jersey. It means that a lot of elected officials never ever, at any level, have to face competitive elections once in their entire careers,” said Sue Altman, executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, which is currently engaged in a court fight to change how candidates are presented on ballots.

Now a state senator is joining the fight to make the “party line” a thing of the past. Sen. Shirley Turner this week introduced a bill to prohibit the practice. Turner (D-Mercer) said the goal of the bill is to make primary elections more competitive and reduce the power of local party bosses. “I think everybody should have a level playing field, start at the same point, and let the voters decide who should be the party’s nominee,” Turner said.