Atlantic County, NJ Exec. & Clerk Partner to Oppose Andy Kim Act

In a wide-ranging on-air interview, Atlantic County, New Jersey Clerk Joe Giralo strenuously objected to legal action being taken by United States Congressman Andy Kim, D-NJ-3 versus 19 County Clerks in the state of New Jersey.

Kim is pursuing litigation against 19 New Jersey County Clerks.

In New Jersey and many other states, the two major political parties enjoy ballot placement preference.

Kim has enjoyed this each and every time that he has run for the United States House of Representatives in New Jersey’s District 3.

Now, because he’s in a tough race with New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy, suddenly Kim wants the courts to change this long standing practice to benefit him.

This is Kim’s defacto resignation that he expects to lose the various Democratic County endorsements to Tammy Murphy

Kim’s move here finds hallow and Giralo outlined in detail how disruptive this will be to the election ballot composition process.

"If Kim is successful in his lawsuit, it will leave insufficient time for county clerks to implement the necessary revisions to meet deadlines for the primary election processes," according to Giralo.

The ballot deadlines are hard and fast. The deadline for county clerks to mail sample ballots is May 22, 2024. The early voting period is May 29th to June 2nd, with primary election day being held June 4, 2022.

Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson agrees with Giralo.

"This is about much more than politics. My first priority is to my constituents. How much will this cost our taxpayers? How will this impact the integrity of the election process if election officials must rush to implement changes to meet unrealistic deadlines," said Levinson.

Further, "Our budgets are in place and now we're told we may have to bear the burden of these unforeseen, and, quite frankly, unnecessary changes and expenses,” said Levinson.

Giralo said ”there is an average of 100 or more different types of ballots in Atlantic County during a primary election. Atlantic County is required to print ballots in two languages, but other counties have to print in many more languages, such as Essex County where Newark is located, with ballots printed in up to 15 languages. There are basically three commercial printers in New Jersey that handle all election ballot printing.”

Levinson said that “Atlantic County recently paid $3.4 million for 325 new election machines that were first used last June. It is unclear what impact these changes could have on current machines.”

"Atlantic County election officials, along with voters, adapted to new machines last year in addition to new voting procedures with early voting and mail-in-ballots," said Giralo.

"Now we could be asked to make changes to our ballots with little time or money to do so. This could prove to be extremely problematic, especially in a Presidential election year,” said Giralo.

Giralo also confirmed during our on air interview that attorney Jack Carbone, who Giralo called “The Dean” of Title 19 law … will be representing the County Clerk’s in this matter.

Carbone’s nickname is “Crafty” … because he is such a good attorney, especially at crafting solutions during tough cases.

SOURCES: Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson & Atlantic County Clerk Joe Giralo.