County clerks drop appeal of order barring use of county-line ballots

County clerks withdrew in droves from the appeal of a court order that bars the use of the county line in June’s Democratic primaries, a move cheered by progressive activists who have long charged that the county line provides an unfair advantage to some candidates.

The withdrawals came after a federal appeals court on Wednesday said it would not block the lower court’s order. The appeal will still move forward because one party is still challenging the order: the Camden County Democratic Committee.

“The right to association and have that association clearly identified on the ballot is equally important to both the candidates and the political parties,” said the committee’s attorney, Bill Tambussi.

A spokesperson for Rep. Andy Kim (D-03) — who is leading the federal challenge to the county line — declined to comment. In a letter filed with the appeals court Thursday, attorneys for Kim said they would not oppose the clerks’ motions to withdraw from the appeal.

The clerks remain a part of Kim’s underlying lawsuit, which is ongoing.

At the center of the appeal is a preliminary injunction issued Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi that bars clerks from using county-line ballots in June’s Democratic primaries. No Republican candidates joined in Kim’s constitutional challenge, so ballots for the GOP primaries are not included in Quarishi’s order.

Quraishi issued the injunction after saying he believed the lawsuit filed by Kim and his co-plaintiffs, congressional candidates Sara Schoengood and Carolyn Rush, is likely to succeed. The lawsuit alleges New Jersey’s county-line ballots — which allow candidates backed by party leaders to group themselves on the ballot — trample on constitutional protections on free association and the elections clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Clerks’ reasons for withdrawing from the appeal varied, but some cited looming election deadlines or new assurances that voting machine vendors could accommodate office-block ballots, which group candidates by office sought. Quraishi’s Friday decision orders clerks to use that type of ballot.

“We need to get working on this,” said Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello. “The court has spoken twice now — we have the federal court and the appellate division on this matter — so we’re just going to move forward now.”

Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella said his office withdrew from the case after Election Systems and Software, the county’s voting machine vendor, told them its products could support office-block ballots.

“Once they tested and confirmed that it would be possible, the reason for our appeal changed,” Colabella said. “Our main concern is to administer an election — and until yesterday we had no confirmation that we could administer an election as ordered by the Court for the Democratic primary.”

Some of the clerks’ contentions that they can prepare office-block ballots for June’s primaries are contrary to arguments their lawyers made in court before Quraishi issued his order last week. The clerks’ attorneys had argued that there was not enough time to design new ballots and reprogram software for their voting machines under statutory deadlines.

Clerks must send ballot designs to printers by Friday, and they must begin sending out some mail-in ballots by April 20, though courts can and have delayed such deadlines in the past.

“Hunterdon has the ability to comply with the order and has withdrawn from the appeal,” Hunterdon County Clerk Mary Melfi told the New Jersey Monitor Wednesday.

A three-judge appeals panel is due to hear oral arguments on the appeal on April 12 in Philadelphia.