Hoboken Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour and Jersey City Council President Joyce Watterman are among 38 electeds and former candidates calling for the end of county organizational lines.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“We, a representative and diverse coalition of women in New Jersey politics, are releasing the following joint statement calling for an end to the state’s ‘party line’ ballot system in primary elections,” the coalition said in a joint statement.
“ … Today, as we see efforts to curtail access to the ballot in many places across the country, it is imperative that here in New Jersey we strengthen our democratic processes. The state’s county party line system, the only such system in the country, is in itself a form of voter suppression that limits choices, concentrates power in the hands of a few, mostly white, male political leaders, and creates a glass ceiling for women in New Jersey politics. It is long past time to smash it.”
They continued that studies have shown receiving New Jersey’s party line on the ballot provides a roughly 38-point advantage in primary elections, as well as that 99 percent of legislative incumbents who ran on the line in the past 20 years were victorious.
“The concentration of political power in the hands of a few unelected party elites has a chilling effect not only on political involvement, but also on legislation and state budget priorities as incumbents are pressured not to speak their minds nor vote their conscience lest they risk losing their favorable ballot positioning,” the group added.
“This has a particularly negative impact on women candidates and elected officials, especially working class and minority women, who historically have had the least political clout.”
The dozens of women involved in New Jersey’s politics came out against the line ahead of U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi hearing U.S. Rep. Andy Kim’s (D-3) case to abolish the line being heard in Trenton federal court on Monday, March 18th.
Kim is running for U.S. Senate in the June 4th primary against First Lady Tammy Murphy, Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina, and Larry Hamm.
Yesterday, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 8th District, and Jersey City Ward E Councilman joined the lawsuit, as HCV first reported.
State Senators Angela McKnight (D-31), and Raj Mukherji (D-32), as well as Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democratic candidate for governor, and Hoboken 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, have also come out against the line.
The remaining list of the coalition is as follows:
Mercedes Aguirre Valenzuela, former Wayne council candidate
Lebanon Councilwoman Marlene Baldinger
Staci Berger, candidate for mayor of Piscataway (part of Kim’s lawsuit)
Garwood Mayor Jen Blumenstock
Garwood Councilwoman Karina Boto
Westfield Mayor Shelley Brindle
Closter Councilwoman Jannie Chung
South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum
Maplewood Deputy Mayor Jamaine Cripe
Former Tenafly Councilwoman Lauren Dayton
Kate Delany, former County Commissioner Candidate
Former Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz
Former Flemington Mayor Betsy Driver
Jennifer Ehrentraut, former state Senate candidate (D-40)
Former South Bound Brook Councilwoman Alison Fetten
Former Summit Council President Marjorie Fox
Westfield Councilwoman Linda Habgood
Former Summit Councilwoman Susan Hairston
Patricia Henry, former county commissioner candidate
Former state Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (part of Kim’s lawsuit)
Emily Jabbour, Councilwoman, City of Hoboken (Hudson)
Former Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffe (D-16)
Kenilworth Mayor Linda Karlovitch
Toni Giordano-Picerno, former Kenilworth council candidate
Former Keyport Mayor Collette J. Kennedy
High Bridge Mayor Michele Lee
Former Atlantic Highlands Mayor Rhonda C. LeGrice
Lisa Mandelblatt, former state Assembly candidate (D-21)
Garwood Councilwoman Clarissa Nolde
Former Summit Mayor Nora Radest
Ann Marie Peterson, former Hawthorne council candidate
Truscha Quatrone, former Morris County freeholder candidate
Former Westfield Councilwoman Emily Root
Former Summit Councilwoman Phyllis G. Sank,
Hillside Mayor Dahlia Vertreese
Former Montgomery Mayor Louise
Former Closter Councilwoman Dolores Witko
