Will Tammy Murphy Break Her Promise for a Fair Ballot?

MOORESTOWN N.J. - Yesterday, Congressman Andy Kim (D-NJ) was joined by two fellow candidates for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in calling on county clerks and Democratic Party county chairs to utilize a fair “office block” ballot design for all competitive elections in the June Democratic primary. Today, the Kim campaign is asking Tammy Murphy to join this call for a fair ballot as she promised she would.

Last month at a forum in Morris County, First Lady Tammy Murphy was asked to, “commit to an office block ballot.” Murphy went on to say: “Here's what I would say. We operate in New Jersey under a system that is set up by statute. That's what it is right now. If the statute should change, then we all operate under a different system. I'm just telling you, that's where we are. That's the system we are in right now. So my answer is that, continue to operate under the law with whatever the law should be. And if we change the law, then we change the law and everybody operates under the same rules.”

As a follow up, the First Lady was asked, “If it’s lawful you’ll commit to it?”

Murphy responded, “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

A video of the First Lady’s interaction at the Morris County forum can be found here.

“Right now two counties, Sussex and Salem counties, already use office block ballots, and all 19 other counties can follow suit right now. Nothing is stopping them. Is Tammy Murphy going to follow through on her promise to ‘absolutely’ commit to a fair office block ballot across all of New Jersey?” asked campaign spokeswoman Katey Sabo. “The answer should be a simple yes. Anything else will be a broken promise.”

Congressman Kim announced his support for ending the county line before he announced his run for U.S. Senate. The full letters sent yesterday to County Clerks can be found by clicking here and the letter to the Democratic County Chairs can be found by clicking here.