I’ve written this before, but New Jersey had a chance to be the election that the national party was talking about. But it’s archaic ballot rules got in the way. This article on the governor race sums it up: 

The lack of enthusiasm among voters, even though New Jersey is only one of two states to hold statewide elections this year, is a curious conundrum facing the candidates jockeying to replace Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. The candidates are trying to inspire an electorate seemingly angry and desperate for change after the 2016 election, while also battling exhaustion and an extended hangover from the outcome.

“It’s unusual,” John Weingart, the associate director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, said, referring to voter apathy. Voter fatigue is one possibility, but Mr. Weingart added, “The other reason is I think, whether or not it’s justified, there’s been a sense of inevitability of Phil Murphy.”

This audio covers much of the same: 

Murphy’s inevitability stems from his ability to work county Democratic committees to get good ballot placement. Camden’s mayor candidates are facing a similar challenge. Here’s candidate Theo Spencer on this year’s ballot gymnastics: 

Spencer has been using his Facebook page for updates and it’s worth checking out, but here’s an excerpt from later in that post: 

This year, in order to break up tickets, the county board of elections decided to only keep tickets together that had people running for county freeholder. The county democrats know it is difficult for independent campaigns to fill out a full slate so I suspect they make up different rules every year.

The board of elections claimed there is a law that allows them to do this. There is also a different law that says they can’t. We went to court but by the time you fight it all out, the election is over.

Had everything worked out, at the top of Column 2, the name Jim Johnson would be listed for Governor. As far as I know, Johnson is the first black man to run a statewide campaign for governor. Under his name would be my name listed as a candidate for Mayor of Camden. Instead, I am in Column 10. Let’s face it, two qualified, educated black men on the same ticket in Column 2 in Camden was going to do major damage to the political machine. Stay woke!

Go over to the Lamboy ticket’s Facebook page, and you’ll see a similar focus on the ballot: 

While the Democratic Committee’s candidates are all on a line — and supporters need only to press a single button to vote for all the committee’s candidates — to vote for Lamboy’s ticket (or others running on their own) a voter will need to pick their specific rows and press a button all the way in column ten. 

Talk to progressive candidates in Cherry Hill, and they’re facing similar challenges, with “ghost candidates” taking their slogans and troubles getting aligned with gubernatorial candidates. 

These types of ballot gymnastics give a significant advantage to incumbents.