Asian Americans Share Harmful Impact of NJ’s Ballot Line

March 8, 2024
By Iris Shih

Since 2022, AAPI New Jersey has been calling the attention of our members and the public to the inequities created by New Jersey’s unique, only-state-in-the-country ballot line structure, which both leads to voter disempowerment and creates an uphill battle for candidates of color, including Asian Americans seeking elected office. Today, New Jersey only has six state legislators who are Asian American in a state with nearly 1.1 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Last month, AAPI New Jersey published an op-ed in the NJ Monitor discussing the issue in greater depth. Our group also signed on to an earlier op-ed by the NJ Institute for Social Justice in partnership with other community and faith-based groups.

This month, we’re sharing summaries and stories submitted by our members about the impact our state’s ballots have on Asian American voters and those who have considered running for elected office, or who are currently running for office.

Impact on AAPI Voters & Those Who Assist Them

Like other voters, Asian Americans in New Jersey have reported (to AAPI New Jersey) that the many lines of the state’s ballot design are confusing and overwhelming, particularly for those who have moved from out of state.
Once they become familiar with the ballot, voters have noted that the line creates an incentive for them to “vote straight down the line,” and tell family members to vote in that manner because it is “easier” and “mindless,” rather than researching candidates and remembering who to vote for when they are confronted with the overwhelming ballot. One Asian American voter said, “Now I see how the system essentially preys on that mindlessness,” while others say that local and state candidates who are not on the same line as well-known candidates, such as a presidential candidate, are perceived as less desirable.
One Korean American member of our community said, “I assist my mom, who is a naturalized citizen and immigrated here in the 1970s. She is monolingual and a senior citizen. It is difficult for her to read the ballot because it is not in her language. There’s all this fine print on the ballot. She isn’t able to read the names or the offices–it’s not clear. She votes in the Presidential elections because she knows the names of the Presidential candidates in these ‘big elections,’ but she and members of her close-knit church community don’t really vote in local elections. One of the issues is that there’s distrust in local government–there are not a lot of people (candidates) who look like them, so why should they vote?”

Challenges Running for Elected Office

AAPI candidates for local office and those considering running for office report that the ballot design forces them to dedicate outsized resources and time to engaging with their political party’s county committee, which in many counties is overwhelmingly white and older, with little to no Asian American representation. This is necessary given how powerful the party’s role is in determining who gets selected for the preferred line.
One Asian American woman who has taken steps to run for office has observed how high-profile, younger candidates of color have been elected in other states, and said, “As it stands, New Jersey would never be able to elect a leader like them. Here we know how party line candidates appear on the ballot and how these names are selected when it’s ‘their turn.’” She noted that in nonpartisan candidate trainings she’s attended in New York for AAPIs, immigrants, and people of color, “Never in these sessions was it mentioned that we’d have to fight to even get our names equitably shown on the ballot.”
Knowing how difficult it is to “wait for a turn” or be “on the radar of the party establishment,” one prospective candidate said her choice comes down to not running at all or running off the line knowing there is a high probability she could lose. Under the current ballot system, even gaining access to the county party leaders in order to receive a favorable line is not something she wants to engage in, because she does not want to be “complicit” in this undemocratic process, and would therefore choose not to run.
Candidates for local non-partisan municipal elections where political parties are less involved in determining the ballot line also suffer under the current system. One AAPI candidate running for local office felt pressured to join a slate with other candidates in order to receive a preferred ballot line, despite her personal desire to run independently, which would have placed her on a distant ballot line. Rather than jump starting her campaign months early and spending her time appealing directly to voters, she spent critical time trying to find and get on a slate.