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This month I want to talk about the ever-changing clerk’s office. Each and every county clerk’s office is ran in a very similar way. While there may be some differences as to how elections are administered this all has to do with duties and how they are distributed.
Some counties have three separate offices that bring an election together, in Atlantic County there is the clerk, superintendent of elections and a board of elections. These duties are set by statue.
Some counties have two offices that administer elections. In those cases, it is the county clerk and board of elections.
The duties are very clear as to how and who is responsible for what. There are things that change because of either what the legislature and the governor change or pass into law. There are also lawsuits that are won against laws or changes that the legislature have enacted that change day to day election duties.
Just this past week a settlement of a lawsuit against several counties was settled and now several changes will now be in effect as to how a clerk constructs a primary ballot. The new settlement reached will mean that county clerks will have to construct primary ballots using an office-block style ballot. This settlement will not allow clerks to group candidates together based on party endorsement. All candidates will be organized by the office sought. Now to add to the confusion a bi-partisan group in the legislature has formed a ballot design committee which was launched by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Woodbridge) and Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown). This new 12-member Assembly panel aims to study potential improvements to the State’s ballot design and could propose legislation to that effect.
If that committee does in fact move forward with changes to how ballots can be designed the new if enacted may override the terms of the settlements that were just reached. This is something that many moving parts and can almost change on a daily basis. I am extremely happy that county clerks will have input into the newly formed committee.
It is the clerk that is on the front line of ballot design as well as the clerk that has the experience with ballot construction so to that end this new committee is going in the right direction.
My words of wisdom are we will see many changes as to what the ballot may or may not look like in the next election. I say to everyone please pay attention as to what is happening with ballot design in the coming weeks.
Lastly, I want to wish everyone a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving. As always if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at (609) 625-4011.
Joseph J. Giralo
Atlantic County Clerk
Mays Landing, N.J.