New Jersey county ordered to fix 'unlawful ballot design' that favored Democrats

A New Jersey county that could play a decisive role in the next month’s statewide elections will be reprinting its general election ballots after the Republican National Committee successfully argued that a ballot redesign unlawfully favored Democrats.

The dispute began late last month when Democratic County Clerk James Hogan replaced Gloucester County’s legally required party-column ballot format, where each political party’s candidates appear under a single vertical heading, with an office-block layout that grouped all candidates for each race together, regardless of party.