After the federal judge ruled that the design of voting in New Jersey was probably unconstitutional, the legislators replied the rules of voting in so The most drastic redesign for voting is happening at the moment political.
The legislators are moving after a mighty question: what makes a fair vote?
And people who asked how far from tradition chosen officials are who want to get stray when their own political future is in the game?
The rates are high. There is no ancient system, Candidates with establishment of establishment lose the advantage that the ancient system of the county line gave them, encouraging more candidates to throw a hat on the ring. In the first basic set without a line from the very beginning at least 10 sedate candidates submit offers for the governor.
“It’s about reviving our political system and restoring the choice of voters and trust of voters to our electoral system and this is an exciting moment that, I hope, will bring a lot of fresh political blood in the system,” said Antoinette Miles, director of the novel batch of families working in Jersey, which filed a lawsuit about the poviat line in 2020.
Loss of “line”
For decades “line” He controlled the voting cards in most of New Jersey. . Designing candidates grouped together by supporting party groups, giving politicians favored by poviat parties AND privileged location. Despite years of indignation because of the reform of supporters, the candidates act without determining The support was placed on the side and on more unclear parts to vote called “Siberia to vote”.
This system has broken up Last year, after the democratic sennik Andy Kim and democratic candidates, Congress Sarah Schongood and Carolyn Rush he argued in court that the project violated their constitutional rights, convincing Federal judge to order Democratic primary voting cards that should be converted without a line.
In autumn, New Jersey legislators started The official remake creating the Voting Design Committee in the Congregation and conveys interrogations to collect the contribution of experts and supporters.
“New Jersey leads a package for making-on a large scale of project questions,” said Wendy Underhill, Director of Election and Redistribution at the National Conference of State Legislators at one of the interrogations in October. “… New Jersey really thinks about it, in a sense from scratch.”
»Read more: Meet 10 candidates who want to be another New Jersey governor
The assembly adopted the law in December with the proposed project, and the State Senate introduced its own version last week. Society members will have the opportunity to comment on Thursday at the hearing at the Senate Judiciary.
The legislators have shown that they are ready to change the legally questioned system of the counting line for the format used by the extensive majority of states that organize candidates at the office. But the puzzle has other elements.
Should voting include slogans of candidates?
The novel voting card traditionally allows candidates to support or the slogan listed next to their name, which is part of how the line of county identified.
People with slogans, including legislators, who included them in both voting bills, argue that they are similar to mentioning the political party to inform voters with whom they are consistent. But some good government supporters say passwords It would be better in the campaign materials instead of the voting cabin.
The guidelines for six-profile slogans were, however, for the debate, and the legislators in both chambers agreed to prohibit the name of the candidate applying for another office in a basic place in slogans, e.g. “X for the governor ”in their projects.
How should you determine your voting order?
New Jersey Ferris officials are designed to design voting for their county, as long as they follow the parameters of the state. Officials manually draw names to determine where candidates are placed on voting, whether using a bingo machine or pulling the names from a wooden box.
But even when the poviat line disappeared in last year’s basic democratic, Every candidate for the Foreman It was mentioned first in voting in one district of Essex, raising eyebrows over statistical incredibility. In Orange, a town in Essex, the judge said that the initial draw of the official to the mayor’s race It was made unlawfully.
Simple voting supporters argued that instead of using a computerized numbers generator and let’s say that the software for this is available. But members of both chambers decided to leave draws in the hands of officials Proposed projects.
AssemblyMber Al Barlas, a Republican who co -charged the two -party election committee for the design of voting, said that the state is simply not “there” practically, partly due to increased verification of security needed for software related to the election. He said he He believes that digitized randomization “ultimately” will be an option for future choices.
Supporters argued that turning the order of candidates for each voting district would solve the problem of injustice about voting. Barlas said that the rotation system would also require more verification and would complicate the campaign with examples. He also claimed that so many changes could expose the “cultural shock” to voters.
Should any candidates be grouped?
The proposed construction of the assembly allows two candidates applying for the same voting office if they submit a petition for items such as the assembly of the state, which have two places for the district, but are chosen separately. These candidates will be drawn together to the voting and listed one after the other with a matching slogan, but also listed in the same way as other candidates.
The proposed project of the state Senate took this measure, enabling officials to format allies differently to show that they are connected by changing the intervals or a ruling, basically mentioning two candidates in one box.
»Read more: The Senate in New Jersey introduced a new critics to vote that critics are a backward step
Proponents against grouping claim that they have the same problems as the poviat line, exerting emphasis on people to running with another candidate and influencing voting in voting.
Rush, a commercial attempt in Kim’s suit on the line, conducts a campaign with another candidate for the assembly, but still believes that he should be drawn separately in voting positions. On Tuesday, she argued on Tuesday that it is candidates, not an official, informing voters about who they run and what they are.
“I really think that voting should be so that people can enter and vote, not convince and then vote,” she said. “I hope that as a citizen you conducted research, listened to what people have to say, and make a conscious decision. And if you are not, shame. This is not the position of a clerk to lead you. “
Barlas argued that displaying colleagues from running on voting together observes the constitutional law of the state to associate – the rights that the plaintiffs used as part of the argument against the line, because it is Candidates who were not associated with others.
Josh Pasek, an expert in the lawsuit, said in an interview The fact that this group would be the “lowest hanging fruit” regarding the lawsuit, because the candidates merge with each other, have a better chance of a favorable voting position, which was found that they affect voters.
“This is not a rocket learning,” said the belt. “… The real question at the end of the day is: does New Jersey undertake to maintain these roles for poviat parties that it is ready to survive what will probably be more court proceedings?”
