In a serious assault on constitutional rights, the New Jersey state Assembly voted up a bill Dec. 19 that would more than double petitioning requirements for the Socialist Workers Party and others who aren’t candidates of the bosses’ two main parties, the Democrats and Republicans, to get on the ballot. The proposal will go to the state Senate when it resumes meeting Jan. 14.
The bill would raise petitioning requirements from 800 to 2,000 for statewide offices. It increases signatures from 100 to 250 for the U.S. House of Representatives and the state legislature. All “yes” votes came from Democrats; all “no” votes from Republicans.
Partisans of the bill smear the SWP and other parties affected by the proposal, as well as working people who vote for them. In a statement to the Senate they claim, “Too many unserious and frivolous candidates that lack support from their community complicates ballot design and provides an opportunity to confuse and misdirect voters.”
The bill follows moves by Democrats across the country in recent years to make ballot access more restrictive. This places an extra obstacle to unionists seeking to build a party of labor to contest for political power.
“The senate should reject this bill,” said Joanne Kuniansky, the SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from New Jersey in the 2024 elections. Kuniansky led the successful effort to win ballot status in the state, as well as ballot status for Rachele Fruit, the party’s candidate for president, and Lea Sherman, SWP candidate for Congress last year. Kuniansky was credited with 9,806 votes.