New Jersey has a unique way of doing things, but there are other options if the Garden State wants a change of pace:
* Resignation to run for office: Some states require elected officials to resign from their current position if their election to another office would create a vacancy. Example: Herb Conaway and Carol Murphy would have had to give up their seats in the State Assembly so that voters could elect their own representatives to the legislature in a special election in 2024.
* Jungle primaries: California and Washington have nonpartisan primaries, where the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Louisiana has no primaries. Instead, the two candidates with the most votes advance to a runoff election only if the winner receives less than 50% of the vote. In 2017, Republican Kim Guadagno was only 3,596 votes ahead of Jim Johnson, who received 22% of the vote, in the Democratic primary.
* Ranked voting: In Maine and certain local elections in six other states, voters can rank their preferences in a field of candidates. If the candidate with the most votes does not reach 50%, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are transferred to their second choice until someone gets a majority. State Senator Andrew Zwicker introduced a bill to implement this system in New Jersey, but it has had no effect. Good luck trying to explain this to Supreme Court justices who often misunderstand the rest of the state’s election laws.
* Same day voter registration: Currently, 23 states allow Election Day registration, and two more have implemented same-day registration before the next presidential election. Over the past four years, 16 have done so. North Carolina allows it for early voting, but not on Election Day. Proof of residency is required. The Star-Ledger editorial board came out in favor of it in 2015, which probably explains why New Jersey has not made any progress.
* Honor system: North Dakota is the only state that doesn’t require voter registration – just bring an ID. What if New Jersey did this everywhere except Paterson?
* Longer assembly times: Five states elect their representatives for a four-year term. Members of the New Jersey State Assembly were elected for one-year terms until 1949.
* Open area codes: In 19 states, voters can participate in the primary election of their choice. New Jersey is one of nine states where unaffiliated voters can indicate their party preference on primary day, but cross-party voting is not allowed in primary elections. In some states, primaries for presidential candidates are open to the public, but for other offices they are closed.
* Primaries in September: Only 13 states, before New Jersey, hold primaries on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June. New Jersey used to hold its primaries in September, but in 1968 it was moved to June – although in some years it has been held in April. In Hawaii, the primaries take place on Saturdays.
* None of the above: In Nevada, voters can proactively vote for “none of these candidates,” although this option is typically chosen by less than 3% of voters in general elections statewide. None of these candidates has received more votes than the other candidates on the ballot in the four statewide primaries since 1978.
* Term limits: Sixteen states have term limits for members of the state legislature, and six more states have either repealed or revoked them. Until 1947, New Jersey elected governors for three-year terms. The state constitution prohibited them from running for re-election. Now governors can serve two four-year terms. Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli has proposed term limits.
* Single-member assembly districts: New Jersey is one of ten states with multi-member districts in the House of Representatives and one of six states that elect one Senator and two Representatives from a single district. Maryland elects one Senator and three Representatives from each district, while New Hampshire, Vermont, and West Virginia have separate districts for the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives. A constitutional amendment would have to be made to divide New Jersey into 80 congressional districts, each with a House of Representatives. This could put an end to the constant bickering between many vice presidents.
* Lieutenant Governors: Eleven states, including New Jersey, allow gubernatorial candidates to choose their running mate after the primary and run on a single slate in the general election. Gubernatorial candidates in seven states run on a single slate with their running mate in the primary and general election. In eight states, including New York and Pennsylvania, candidates for lieutenant governor run in a separate primary but are linked to their party’s gubernatorial candidate on the general election ballot. Seventeen states hold separate primaries and general elections for governor. The New Jersey Legislature considered all of these options before creating the office of Lieutenant Governor in 2005.
* Lieutenant Governor heads the Senate: In 25 states, the Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate, in seven states the Lieutenant Governor appoints Senate committees, and in 14 states the Lieutenant Governor has a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. If this were the case in New Jersey, you can bet that this would be the most important criterion for Governor Murphy’s selection of a new lieutenant governor.
* Constitutional Commissioner: New Jersey is one of six states that does not directly elect constitutional officers. Forty-four states directly elect an attorney general. Some states elect up to ten statewide officers, and a quarter of states elect between four and six statewide officers. Arizona voters elect a state mining inspector, Texas elects three state railroad commissioners, and Oklahoma elects the labor commissioner.
* Election of judges: New Jersey is one of 12 states that does not elect judges—although one could argue that district appointees are a form of judicial election. Voters in 8 states elect Supreme Court justices in partisan elections; Michigan Supreme Court candidates are nominated at party conventions but then appear on the ballot with no party affiliation; Ohio Supreme Court candidates run in primaries but then appear on the general election ballot with no party affiliation indicated. Voters in 20 states elect trial court judges in partisan elections. Paid for by the Committee to Elect Wally Timpone.
*Elections for the re-election of judges: In 21 states, voters can vote yes or no on whether a judge should remain in office after a certain number of years. In 1986, New Jersey Chief Justice Robert Wilentz retained his post after the state Senate voted 21 to 19 to retain him.
* Registration fees: Thirty-four states require state legislative candidates to pay a filing fee to get on the ballot. The fee ranges from $6 in New Hampshire to $7,500 in Arkansas. New Jersey is one of 16 states that does not require a fee. The filing fee to run for office in Florida is 3% of the annual salary for the position for which the candidate is running.
* Elections for the post-mortem examination: Voters in more than 1,200 counties in 24 states elect their coroner. New Jersey stopped electing coroners in the 1950s. In typical New Jersey fashion, the job was eliminated for nearly a decade before all counties officially abolished the position. Some towns, including one in Vermont, still elect dog catchers.
