S 4142 New Jersey Senate · 2024-2025 Regular Session

Revises design of primary election ballots and certain primary election procedures; provides for ballots to be arranged by office block; removes State committee members from primary process; requires reporting on primary elections by Division of Elections.

S 4142 revises New Jersey's primary election ballot design by requiring all candidates for the same office to be grouped together in "office blocks" rather than being separated or mixed with candidates for different offices. This change aims to reduce voter confusion by ensuring all candidates seeking the same position appear consecutively on the ballot, with each office block clearly separated from others. The bill also removes State political committee members from the primary election process, requiring them to be elected by county committees instead. Additionally, it mandates that the Division of Elections collect data on the implementation of the new ballot design and submit a report to the Governor and Legislature within 180 days after the second primary election following enactment.
Tags: Elections
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 13, 2025 Last action Feb 25, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version Reprint SJU 2/20/25 1R · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill moved from its introduced version to the first reprint after Senate Judiciary Committee report on February 20, 2025. The main substantive amendment removes an exception that allowed county clerks to modify spacing, ruling, or delineation for associated candidates (those running as a group with a common slogan), making the uniform ballot design requirement stricter. Senator Anthony M. Bucco was added as a co-sponsor.
REQUIREMENT

Section 2(a)(5) no longer contains the exception allowing county clerks to modify spacing, ruling, or delineation applied to associated candidates so as to indicate their association. This means all candidates on the ballot must receive identical visual treatment regardless of whether they are part of an associated group.

SCOPE

Senator Anthony M. Bucco (District 25, Morris and Passaic) was added as a co-sponsor of the bill.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
4
Key actions
1
Committee
2
Feb 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported out of Senate Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading
upper
Feb 20, 2025
Committee
Transferred to Senate Judiciary Committee
upper
Feb 13, 2025
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee
upper
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors