A state appellate court ruling late Friday ordered Gloucester County to return to columns for its general election ballot, but with a narrow window to program voting machines for in-person early voting that begins on Octiober 24, County Clerk James Hogan’s attorney isn’t sure the newly-designed ballots will be ready by tomorrow.
Superior Court Judge Benjamin Telsey ruled that Hogan had illegally designed general election office block ballots but decided to let them stand out of concern that they would confuse voters.
The conventional wisdom was that the illegal design would favor Democrats who are fighting for two Assembly seats and control of the Gloucester County Board of Commissioners, since it could limit the coattails of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli. Ciattarelli carried the county by ten points in 2021.
Deputy Attorney General Paulina DeAraujo said the Superintendent of Elections needs the ballot designs by October 15 to meet vendor deadlines.
But County Counsel Eric Campo initially protested a move by Republican attorney Josiah Contarino to include tomorrow’s deadline in the new court order.
“I would not want to agree to that in this order, since this is the first time we’re talking about making that part of the order. That was the attorney general’s previous position, said Campo. “As long as we got it by then, we think everything else can be accomplished in time. But at no point was that part of the requested prayer for relief.”
But DeAraujo pushed back, saying the deadline was in her court submissions.
“We’ve been saying we need it no later (than) October 15th,” she said. “I don’t think anyone’s disputed that … If we don’t get it by tomorrow, there’s no guarantee she’s going to be able to program the voting machines.”
Telsey decided against including the deadline in the court order.
“I’m following the direction of the Appellate Division at this moment and I want to make sure my order is consistent with what the Appellate Division asked this court to do,” Telsey stated. “Adding language that this needs to be completed by tomorrow was not anywhere in the Appellate Division’s specific order, although I think it’s understood that the parties are going to need to work together to make sure that the appellate order is complied with, so I’m not going to add that specific language to it.”
State law requires general election ballots to be designed in a column format, with parties and offices arranged on a grid. Republicans, in fact, won Column A in the county’s ballot drawing and spent money on materials pushing voters to vote for Column A.
