As state lawmakers worked to redesign the primary ballot.

Critics say the Senate's recently unveiled version represents a step backward ahead of last year's Democratic primary.

A federal judge abolished the so called party line, which grouped candidates together who were backed by county political parties and placed them in a prime spot on the ballot.

This year, candidates will be grouped together by office.

They are running for instead.

But advocates for a fair ballot say the latest redesign would still give certain candidates an edge.

Ted Goldberg was at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today where critics sounded off.

A proposal to alter New Jersey's primary ballots has brought out some vocal critics saying leaders are trying to replicate the effects of the county line.

What we see in the language is allowing for candidates simply because they are running together with someone to be able to once again group together on the ballot and to be given a visual bias towards them simply because they chose to run together.

After a lawsuit from then-Senate candidate Andy Kim, New Jersey had to drop its county line ballots.

Now lawmakers are redesigning the ballot to group candidates based on the office they're running for.

Instead.

Under a proposal that swirling around the state Senate, county clerks could group candidates running on the same slate together.

An amendment proposed today puts it in line with the assembly version.

The spirit of the ruling is that everybody should be treated equal on the ballot.

The ballot should be a mechanism to rig elections to favor incumbents or establishment candidates.

So, says Ravi Bhalla, the mayor of Hoboken, who's running for an assembly seat in Hudson County.

It really forces people to focus on political maneuvering rather than just presenting our vision to the voters.

And that's what should be about everyone on a level playing field, presenting their vision to the voters, but forcing people to bracket or not bracket inherently rigs the actual ballot by creating a visual perception that somebody who's associated with someone else is somehow a better candidate.

The bill could apply as soon as June, when primary voters will select the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor.

Every single candidate should be placed in a random draw and put on the ballot in that draw individually.

Every single candidate should have an even playing field in which they are running on.

That is not to the detriment of candidates just because they're running independently.

A lot of the folks that don't believe in the county line are also disgruntled candidates, or they worked for a disgruntled candidate.

So I think it makes their perception of what is happening different.

Mary Melfi has been the county clerk for 17 years.

She says the bill will help make ballots more accessible.

For example, font capitalization, where the where the circle goes.

Those are all things that are critical to us because in some counties you have ballots printed in three and four different languages.

Melfi says the proposal doesn't run afoul of a federal judge's ruling that struck down the county line last year.

I don't agree with what the critics are saying about that, and I think that candidates have a constitutional right to associate.

We've seen it in school board elections.

That's not what a ballot is for.

A ballot is for voters to tell us who they prefer not to.

Try to put your thumb on the scale and influence who they vote for.

Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who's running for governor, won the Mercer County Democratic Convention last night, possibly giving her better positioning on the gubernatorial primary ballot in June.

At the State House, I'm Ted Goldberg.

NJ Spotlight News.