Racial Justice Advocates Argue Appeals Court Should Affirm Lower Court’s Decision to Stop Use of County Line on New Jersey’s Primary Ballots in June Primary

 Racial Justice Advocates Argue Appeals Court Should Affirm Lower Court’s Decision to Stop Use of County Line on New Jersey’s Primary Ballots in June Primary

NEWARK – In an amicus curiae brief filed today, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Campaign Legal Center – on behalf of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, Salvation and Social Justice, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, New Jersey Policy Perspective, AAPI New Jersey, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Asian American Advancing Justice | AAJC (collectively, “Amici”) – asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to affirm the district court’s ruling in the case of Kim v. Hanlon.

The brief argues that that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it found “likelihood of success on the merits” for plaintiffs’ claim that the county line is unconstitutional and has a harmful effect on voters and candidates, and that ballots must be designed in office block style for the upcoming Democratic June primary election.

Amici’s brief points out that the decision of all of New Jersey’s county clerks in the case to drop out of the appeal demonstrates their ability to switch to office block ballots in time for June’s primary election.

However, the brief argues, if the Court of Appeals were to, at this late stage, grant the request of intervening parties to reverse that already-in-motion process, chaos would indeed ensue – an outcome defendants ostensibly wanted to avoid.