Democrats in Gloucester County will use an office block ballot design in the general election, a move that potentially limits Jack Ciattarelli’s coattails in a county where two competitive State Assembly seats are up for election, along with control of county government.
The move is expected to wind up in court, perhaps within the next few days.
County Clerk Jim Hogan, a Democrat, redesigned the ballots without the knowledge of Republicans, the New Jersey Globe has learned. He did so after a ballot draw that gave Column A to Republicans and Column B to Democrats.
“They really hid the ball here,” said a Republican leader. “We didn’t see it until people got their ballots.”
Four years ago, Ciattarelli carried Gloucester County by ten percentage points against Gov. Phil Murphy. That helped the GOP elect a sheriff and two county commissioners, and flip a Senate seat and two Assembly seats in the politically competitive 3rd district. Democrats won the three legislative seats in 2023, and the two county commissioners were re-elected in 2024, despite Donald Trump winning the county by three points.
There are two county commissioner seats up for election this year, and if Republicans win both, it will give them control of county government for the first time in 45 years.
A ranking Democrat confirmed that the party believed their chances of holding the Assembly and County Commissioner seats improved with an office block ballot.
After Andy Kim, then a U.S. Senate candidate, successfully sued the state to end the county line system in 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi ordered election officials to use office block ballots in primaries; earlier this year, the legislature codified that order into state law for primaries, but did not address general elections.
Last year, Cumberland County Clerk Celeste Riley tried a similar move – she was up for re-election, and the unexpected ballot design placed the Democratic clerk’s name next to popular Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew. After the GOP sued, Riley backed down.
