New Jersey Primary Ballots are Just Fine
Sue Altman is a Progressive politician that thinks primary voters are stupid
A REPUBLICAN MOSQUE PRESIDENT and a Democratic rabbi write an op-ed together. What do they have in common? They are actually both progressive Democrats. No, this isn’t some politically incorrect joke from yesteryear, but a reference to an actual piece published in The Star-Ledger recently that argued the point that New Jersey’s primary ballots suppress votes.
The giveaway that this op-ed is not really a bipartisan consensus is found right up front with the words “voter suppression is all the rage,” followed by the demonstrably false statement that Georgia’s new voting integrity law is all about “suppressing the vote.”
Getting the preamble out of the way, though, the thesis that the authors are attempting to argue is that votes cast by New Jersey residents matter less due to ballot design.
The problem, according to them and a group of progressive politicians backing a lawsuit against the state’s ballot design, is that, on a party’s primary ballot, the candidate that the party endorses typically gets placed in the same column as the party candidate running for higher office — i.e., Phil Murphy will be at the top of the Democratic primary ballot for the governor’s race this summer, so other party-endorsed candidates will appear below him.
Apparently, the problem with this is that voters are not intelligent enough to read the ballot and will simply click down the road, according to the piece’s authors and the lawsuit’s backers. They state as evidence the fact no incumbent party candidate has lost their primary seat in the last 11 years.
Another, more reasonable explanation for this losing streak is that incumbents typically have an advantage in elections. Primary turnout usually is far lower and consists of far more ideologically pure partisans than those who participate in general elections.
So, what exactly is the problem? There isn’t one. But this is an issue being fabricated by progressive politicians who are upset that the state Democratic party is smart enough to deny endorsing them for the sheer fact that it would be lunacy to drive the party even further left than it already is.
But to understand this push, it is essential to look at who is the most vocal progressive spearheading this movement? The answer is Sue Altman, president of the far-left New Jersey Working Families Alliance, who was last seen making headlines for attempting protest inside a judicial hearing asking questions of George Norcross.
Altman had to be physically removed by state police for her contempt in that incident. For an additional touch of the type of politics we are dealing with here, consider that Altman decided to bring race into this exchange by vilifying the state troopers who were ordered to remove her for being white males, seemingly failing to realize that as a blond, white lady, she is not exactly the face of intersectionality she believes herself to be.
Joining comrade Altman is Arati Kriebich, a progressive primary candidate who was endorsed by “squad” member Ayanna Pressley and proud Socialist Bernie Sanders. Also in the mix is Christine Conforti, a progressive candidate backed by the leftist group “Our Revolution.” You may notice, however, a lack of centrists and Republican complainants in this lawsuit.
In their response, though, state Democrats are one-hundred percent correct. “I think it lends towards the best candidates. The organization takes the selection of candidates very seriously,” Nick Scutari, a state Senator and chair of the Union County Democratic Committee, told Gothamist in January. “It’s a democratic system made up of Democratic Party members who are all elected by Democratic primary voters.”
There are plenty of reasons to criticize New Jersey Democrats, but this isn’t one of them. Altman wants to redesign the ballot as a way to sneak in progressive candidates that the party is smart enough to realize have toxic unpopular political stances. New Jersey voters are also smart enough to reject these charlatans roundly, and no amount of ballot trickery will change that. And that is why this lawsuit, and its supporting arguments, should be dismissed.
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