Illegal ballot design and a call for impeachment roil Gloucester County politics

The design of the November ballot by the Gloucester County clerk is illegal, but it’s too close to the election to change it, a judge has ruled.

The ballot is “violative” of state statute, according to Superior Court Judge Benjamin Telsey, who ruled last week that “the ballots as constructed are inconsistent with what the legislature wants.”

Telsey also determined that because some mail-in ballots have already been sent out, a redesign now would only cause confusion and cannot be attempted.

Republicans are appealing to the state Appellate Court, asserting that the redesign by County Clerk James Hogan, a Democrat, benefits candidates from his party. Legal motions were expected to be filed by Thursday afternoon.

And Republican New Jersey Assemblyman Brian Bergen (Morris, Passaic) says he is so enraged that he’s calling for Hogan’s impeachment for “electioneering by altering the ballot.”

Adding to the tumult, on Monday the Republican National Committee decried Hogan’s ballot as “yet another example of Democrats trying to game the system. … The redesign was a deliberate effort to undermine county GOP efforts.”

Hogan created a ballot with so-called office blocks — boxes that list candidates under the title of the office they are seeking. In such an array, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli and Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill are grouped together in the “Governor” box, along with the Socialist and Libertarian candidates.

In other blocks, candidates from both parties are listed together under the headings of offices being sought: General Assembly, County Commissioner, and Township Committee.

In the vertical-line configuration that Telsey described as conforming to state statute, Ciattarelli would head a list of GOP candidates running for other offices, while Sherrill would top a slate of Democrats.

“People will see Ciattarelli’s name and vote Republican down the line,” Bergen said in an interview.

Current thinking is that Republicans have a good chance to wrest control of the county from Democrats this year by taking two open commissioner seats and other spots, according to the New Jersey Globe, which originally reported the ballot redesign story.

Though he lost the 2021 governor’s race, Ciattarelli beat Gov. Phil Murphy in Gloucester County — 55,000 to 45,000 votes.

But if the ballot consists of office blocks of candidates vying for the same post, Bergen said, “I presume people will vote for Ciattarelli and then go home, without looking at the lower-down candidates in other boxes.”

Republicans charge that Hogan ignored a state statute for determining ballot position: “The name of the party first drawn shall occupy the first column at the left of the ballot, and the name of the party next drawn shall occupy the second column, and so forth.”

Court records show that after the legally required random drawing in August, GOP candidates were to appear on line ballots in the far left column — considered to be the most advantageous position to attract voters’ eyes — with Democrats to the right.

Instead, Hogan created the box ballot.

“This is yet another example of county clerks not acting as neutral election administrators,” said attorney Yael Bromberg. “They are engaging in a process to influence electoral outcomes, be it with respect to ballot order, grouping, or overall ballot design.”

Hogan did not respond to calls for comment.

Bromberg, a professor of election law at American University Washington College of Law, is one of the attorneys who worked with then-U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, a Democrat, to eliminate the so-called county line ballot format from New Jersey primary elections. The line format is still functional in general elections.

Because Republicans had distributed literature advising voters how to cast their votes using a ballot that is no longer viable, Telsey ordered Hogan to pay the county GOP $26,007, court records show.

It was not clear when Republican appeals would be decided.