Last night in New Jersey, several candidates for federal offices were nominated with a minority of votes. Ranked choice voting (RCV) would have prevented this. 

Who will be the next senator from New Jersey?

New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race is attracting more attention than usual this year because incumbent Sen. Robert Menendez has been indicted on federal corruption charges. Menendez decided not to run in the Democratic primary, instead filing to run as an independent; this raises the prospect that “vote-splitting” could affect the general election.

In the Democratic primary to replace Menendez, U.S. Rep. Andy Kim won with 75% of the vote. On the GOP side, real estate developer Curtis Bashaw won with 46% of votes in a four-way race – meaning a majority of Republicans preferred a different candidate. 

The impending three-way general election may result in vote-splitting on the left, and could cause a candidate to win the seat with less than 50% of votes. Democrats are concerned about “the embattled senator jeopardizing Democrats’ ability to hang on to the seat with his third-party bid.” 

On the flipside, research shows that candidates nominated with a majority of votes are more likely to win general elections than candidates nominated with a minority of votes; Republicans could have put themselves in a stronger position to win if they used RCV to pick a majority-supported nominee.

Fewest votes wins in U.S. House races

With Andy Kim running for Senate, his seat in the 3rd Congressional District is up for grabs. State Rep. Herb Conaway won the three-way Democratic primary with just under 50% of votes. In the GOP primary, physician Rajesh Mohan beat three other candidates with 38% of votes. NJ-03 leans Democratic. 

In the 2nd Congressional District, lawyer and entrepreneur Joseph Salerno is leading the Democratic primary with just 38% of votes, only one percentage point ahead of civil rights attorney Tim Alexander. This race has not been called, but it’s certain the winner will go into the general election without broad party support. Whoever wins the Democratic primary faces an uphill battle against incumbent Republican Jeff Van Drew. 

In the 1st Congressional District, veteran and attorney Theodore Lidell won the three-way race with 47% of votes. Lidell will face incumbent Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross in the general election. With NJ-01 being safely Democratic, Norcross will likely win in November. 

Ranked choice voting would improve New Jersey elections

There is a solution to these unrepresentative outcomes. Ranked choice voting ensures a majority winner. RCV allows voters to rank the candidates in order of preference. If a voter’s first choice can’t win, their vote can count for a backup choice. This way, nominees enter general elections with broad support from their parties, and November voters have better choices on the ballot. 

RCV has already been used in nominating contests in Maine, Virginia, Utah, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and more. Moreover, many New Jerseyans are already asking for RCV. Hoboken and Jersey City have passed ordinances to hold ballot measures on RCV, but they need authorization from the state legislature first. Several pro-RCV bills have been introduced in the New Jersey legislature, including to allow RCV for local elections (which would give Hoboken and Jersey City the go-ahead) and to implement RCV for all state and federal elections. 

Additionally, ongoing litigation could require New Jersey to change its unique “county line” ballot design; the design was enjoined in the 2024 Democratic primaries and may be permanently eliminated. According to State Sen. Andrew Zwicker, “this is the perfect time to do [that change and RCV] together.” Jersey City Councilman James Soloman, a co-sponsor of the Jersey City ordinance, says “we should actually replace [New Jersey’s system] with the very best kind of practice of what democracy can look like in this country,” referring to RCV. 

To support ranked choice voting in New Jersey, visit Voter Choice NJ and Represent.Us NJ!

Photo of the Jersey City, New Jersey skyline by Jakub Hałun under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.