In his lawsuit, Kim claimed that design “cynically” manipulates voters and are “anathema to fair elections.”
U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi sided with Kim and the other plaintiffs and said the system of “bracketing” county-endorsed candidates gave them an unfair advantage over their challengers. The ruling will force New Jersey to redesign its ballots ahead of the June primary.
“Unbracketed candidates tend to occupy obscure parts of the ballot that appear less important and are harder to locate, and may be grouped in a column with other candidates with whom they did not want to be associated,” Quraishi wrote in his 49-page ruling, released Friday.
Kim welcomed the news and said in a statement it was a victory against “an undemocratic system marginalizing the voices of voters.”
The ruling came after the office of New Jersey state attorney general Matthew Platkin last week called the ballot design “unconstitutional,” and declined to defend the state against Kim’s lawsuit.
