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