Atlantic County Clerk explains new Primary Election ballots

Sample Primary Election ballot for Egg Harbor Township.

Atlantic County Clerk Joe Giralo wants voters to be aware of a new format on their ballots for the upcoming June 4 Primary Election.

The change resulted from a recent decision in a federal lawsuit that required a redesign of Democratic ballots to eliminate the Democratic organizational line in the first column. Candidates will now be listed in an office-block format based on the order their names are drawn.

The new primary ballot design was completed as of May 1, according to Giralo. Atlantic County ballots will use the new format for both the Democratic and Republican candidates.

As per state law, costs for the primary election are divided among the county's municipalities. Atlantic County has hundreds of candidates and approximately 60 different ballots, including some in Spanish.

We reviewed the costs and evaluated the logistics of having a different ballot format for Democrats and Republicans, but doing so would result in tens of thousands of dollars in printing, programming and postage costs that would have had to be passed onto each of Atlantic County's 23 communities, Giralo explained.

I won't increase costs for county residents because of politics, he said. While the ballots will have a new look, they will be uniform for both Democrats and Republicans.

Voters will also notice the addition of a clarifying statement on the June primary ballots that reads as follows:

Due to a federal court order, the Democratic Party organization line has been prohibited from use for the June 4^th Primary. As ordered by the court, the Democratic election ballot must be in an office-block ballot layout. In order to keep costs down, the Republican election ballot has also been revised to match the Democratic style.

Giralo added that he and his staff will continue to educate voters on how to safely and securely exercise their right to vote in Atlantic County.

Because Downbeach towns operate under the non-partisan Commission form of government, there are no bottom-of-the-ballot races up for consideration in the primary.  Margate's commission election was held in 2023. Ventnor held its commission election on Tuesday, May 14; and in Longport, the commission election will be held on Nov. 5. However, local voters will get to select who they want to represent their parties at the county, state and federal levels.

Since I took office in January 2022, the Atlantic County Clerk's Office has undergone an unprecedented community outreach effort to help increase voter registration and voter participation," Geralo said.

For more information, residents may contact the Clerk's Office in person, on social media, or by calling 609-625-4011. For more information, visit www.atlanticcountyclerk.org.