A lawsuit over the way county clerks assemble ballots to favor organization-backed candidates has been dismissed, but the issues are not settled.
The upstart congressional candidate who tried to upset political party honchos' cozy apple cart did not prevail in court. A judge this week tossed out Alex Law's lawsuit over Camden County's use of ballot "bracketing" for machine Democrats in the upcoming primary election.
While Superior Court Judge Mary Beth Kramer's decision may have been on point regarding the specifics of Law's complaint -- the candidate has suffered no injury thus far to his campaign -- closely related issues were not addressed in Kramer's dismissal of the case.
The 25-year-old Law has filed to run in the June 7 primary against incumbent Donald Norcross for the Democrats' 1st Dist. U.S. House of Representatives nomination. The single-term incumbent congressman's name will be placed on the Democrats' "line," allowing him to run in a single sample ballot/voting machine column with other organization Democrats.
Law's name can be placed by the Camden and Gloucester county clerks -- both of whom are key organization Democrats -- in what Law calls "ballot Siberia." His name can appear so far to the right of a horizontally laid-out ballot that some voters may not even see it.
Law's claim that Camden County Clerk Joseph Ripa would not disclose to him "secret" rules about bracketing with candidates for other offices may have been off the mark, maybe even slightly paranoid. As of Monday's filing deadline, Law had aligned with an alternate, non-organization Democrat county freeholder slate in Camden County. Law is an ardent Bernie Sanders supporter, and an alternate slate of Sanders-leaning freeholder Democrats has filed in Gloucester County, as well.
Law should be able to run in the same column with these slates, which might bring him back from the farthest edges of "Siberia."
After the judge's ruling, Law claimed that he's proved his point, and that the hearing helped reveal the rules for bracketing.
However, in our opinion, the case dismissal does not resolve the huge leeway that clerks have to place non-favored candidates' names on the far sidelines of the physical ballot. As we noted in our earlier comment on the case, modern electronic voting systems that allow horizontal layouts have exacerbated the problem. For the November general election, it will be independent candidates who become vulnerable to Siberia-style freeze-outs.
The finality of Law's comments suggest he won't appeal the judge's ruling. Maybe he'll sue again after his ballot placement helps send to him to a likely June 7 defeat. Someone with legal standing, though, ought to test New Jersey's current rules that can relegate non-organization candidates to seats way in the back of an almost empty bus.
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