32nd Legislative District Assembly candidates Katie Brennan and Ravi Bhalla, the Hoboken mayor, are calling on Gov. Phil Murphy (D) to conditionally veto the ballot redesign bill that cleared the state Senate last month.
“This legislation would create ballots that are fundamentally unfair to candidates who are running independently,” Brennan said in a statement.
“It is another attempt to rig the ballot, manipulate voters, and make it harder for challengers to run against those already in power. I call on Governor Murphy to conditionally veto this bill and help bring truly fair ballots to New Jersey.”
Joining with the Working Families Party, along with other groups, Brennan and Bhalla called for the conditional veto to include the following: striking the joint petition bracketing and number-letter markers on the ballot, requiring uniform good practices around font and formatting, and reinstating the right of people to vote for their state committee party members.
The two legislative candidates were among the over a dozen people who testified against the bill in Trenton last month, as HCV first reported.
The bill subsequently cleared the full state Senate on February 25th and then the state Assembly on February 27th prior to heading to the governor’s desk.
“At its core, this ballot redesign bill fails to achieve the real reforms New Jersey voters demand. A truly democratic ballot system should ensure that every candidate is treated fairly and equally,” Bhalla added today.
“I call on Governor Murphy to conditionally veto this bill and move us closer to the democratic ballot system employed by every other state in the union.”
U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi’s potentially landmark ruling last March abolished county lines for the June 4th, 2024 Democratic primary, and while the case did not apply to future elections, the county line system appears to be a thing of the past now.
LD-32 is a crowded field where Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez and Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh are running on Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s ticket as part of his bid for governor, while Jennie Pu and Crystal Fonseca are backed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).
Bhalla and Brennan indicated that as of Monday morning, they are both still running as independents.