A lawsuit against New Jersey’s unique system of county lines The ballot case, which has been stuck in the pre-trial stage for more than four years, appears to be close to a settlement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni last week asked lawyers for plaintiff Christine Conforti and other former congressional candidates to share information about their proposed settlement, adding that the court would “review the format for efficient settlement discussions.”

Monmouth County District Clerk Christine Hanlon, one of the defendants in the case, confirmed to the New Jersey Monitor that she was interested in a settlement.

“And we made that clear to the plaintiffs because, first of all, we cannot go into another election cycle with such uncertainty – which is coming sooner than you think,” Hanlon said.

The lawsuit, filed in July 2020 after Conforti lost a Democratic primary for the 4th District seat in the House of Representatives, seeks to end New Jersey’s county lines system, a unique ballot design that groups candidates by slogan rather than office sought. The controversial design allows party-backed candidates to appear on the ballot in a single line — a row or column — and it has been criticized for giving party insiders and their preferred candidates a nearly insurmountable advantage in elections.

Brett Pugach, Who is under The plaintiffs’ attorney declined to comment on the settlement negotiations but said his clients were prepared to “explore all means necessary to achieve an equitable resolution of the constitutional concerns raised by the lawsuit.”

“I can say that the plaintiffs firmly believe that the signs of the times are near in this case, and that the county officials who continue to defend the county line do so with total disregard for taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Pugach noted that U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi concluded that in a separate lawsuit challenging county-line ballots, plaintiffs would likely succeed in their bid to have them declared unconstitutional. Quraishi in March issue an interim injunction Prohibition of use of Ballot paper in the Democratic primary in June a verdict confirmed by a federal appeals panel.

In that case, the plaintiffs, including Rep. Andy Kim (D-03), argued that county-line ballots violate freedom of association granted by the First Amendment to the Constitution and further protections through the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Conforti also claims in his lawsuit, brought by the same lawyers as in the Kim case, that this practice unconstitutionally affects freedom of association because candidates who are not among the top candidates on an electoral list cannot get the first seats on the ballot in some districts.

Appointed District Clerks as The defendants in both cases had opposed the proceedings largely on procedural grounds, claiming that the proceedings were not completed in a timely manner and would cause chaos in the Kim case as election officials would have to rush to design new ballots. punctual to meet election deadlines. When Kim filed his lawsuit, he was one of several candidates running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate (he won the approval of the party).

Officials’ fears of electoral chaos proved unfounded. After Quraishi issued his order, they printed ballot papers that did not indicate district boundaries. And was needed in the Democratic primaries in June without incident.

Much about the future of the Conforti case remains unclearand the sheer number of parties involved could complicate settlement negotiations or cause the case to continue even if claims are asserted against some parties. are solved.

Conforti’s lawsuit involves more than 25 parties, including two county party committees. Hanlon said there was an impression the plaintiffs were only seeking a settlement with Burlington County, but Pugach pointed out that was not the case.

“We want this issue be fixed throughout the state, and so it somehow makes no quite “It makes a lot of sense to believe that we are only interested in a solution with some parties and not in a solution with others,” Pugach said.

There are no signs that Kim’s case is nearing a settlement, although a settlement in the Conforti matter make this case controversial.

It is also unclear how unanimously employees are in need to settle the case through a settlement.

“I don’t want to speak for the others. I would say that caseworkers generally follow the laws that are set by the court or the legislature because that is our job. “We have to rely on the law when preparing the ballots,” Hanlon said.