After a yearslong fight and high-profile legal battle, New Jersey’s county line will no longer stand as U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi granted Rep. Andy Kim’s (D-NJ) request for a preliminary injunction.
Quraishi, who oversaw the case, effectively overturned the county line in Kim’s lawsuit against 19 county clerks who use the line. The county line places party-backed candidates on an organizational line, giving them an advantage over other candidates whose names are placed in “ballot Siberia.”
“The integrity of the democratic process for a primary election is at stake and the remedy Plaintiffs are seeking is extraordinary,” Quraishi wrote. “Mandatory injunctive relief is reserved only for the most unusual cases. Plaintiffs’ burden on this Motion is therefore particularly heavy. Nevertheless, the Court finds, based on this record, that Plaintiffs have met their burden and that this is the rare instance when
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