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Relevance
At stake is the sacred election process in New Jersey where a ballot designed by the State tends to sway voters favoring incumbents in inconspicuous ways, effectively making election moot and patently unfair—that is the issue Hector Oseguera wishes to unravel.
Voting is a nonpartisan issue. In New Jersey, each County has become firmly Democrat or Republican. The regular 2-party election is rendered moot in the voter’s ability to flip the county. Any meaningful opportunity for voter’s influence is therefore the primary election process, where the real controversy lies and is the focus of this film.
County Clerks, employees of the State, may not take on a political agenda, however, for nearly over 50 years, the Gerand Law, created by President Woodrow Wilson in the 1920s, to support fairness and transparency in the election process has been eroded by Machine Politics, so that today, Party Chairs play a role in creating a Ballot to favor their team of candidates. This is exactly what Gerand Law was designed to prohibit and that’s what Hector uncovers.
The County-Line system is where campaigning on the ballot sways voters towards the only “team” of County-endorsed candidates, creating a tilted playing field. The State of New Jersey is unique as the only state in the nation to hold elections with a County-Line system. Out of 21 counties, 19 County Party Chairs endorse candidates to appear together as a “team” aligned vertically or horizontally on Ballots.
Hector feels such practices by Machine Politics is wrong and he argues that a voter is misled to vote for someone they did not intend to seat into public office.
In today’s climate of claims of voter suppression and confusion, Hector makes the analogy: what gerrymandering is to maps, the ”weight of the line” is to ballot design. Such dirty practices ensures that people like Hector are not part of the political process, cannot obtain power, and remain as outsiders. This film hopes to show the underdog can defeat Goliath.
Community
The film hopes through awareness voters may effectively vote and not fall for tricks for a more fair and transparent voting system.
We are deeply tied to the community through local organizations such as the Working Family Party, Coalition for Better Government of New Jersey, and New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, all of which serve local communities around the State to inform, educate, and train voters for effective voting practices.
Working with local expert researchers Professor Yael Viv at Princeton University and Professor Julia Sass Rubin at Rutgers University who are actively supporting local causes for voter education through their impactful research. Their up-to-date data is gathered and verified.
Election Law Expert Brett Pugach, Esq., of Weissman & Mintz, LLC, and Constitutional Law Expert Yael Bromberg, Esq., of Bromberg Law, LLC, provide insight on what the law permits, and the history of practices of County Line balloting in New Jersey since President Woodrow Wilson.
The film asks voters about the ballot on which they voted as they become aware of how the ballot tends to sway voting to favor the County Line candidates and disenfranchises the voice of the community of Asian Americans, Hispanic and Black voters.
Impact
The film’s focus is education and engagement with the immediate stakeholders who are New Jersey voters. Most have no idea their voting rights are impinged and that they are swayed by the Ballot. We shall reach them where they are, meaning, by disseminating the film within the community circles where they engage. The second and larger cohort is American voters outside of New Jersey who are deeply invested in fairness in voting and will be interested in discovering the problem of their neighboring state. While there is a presumption that election shenanigans occur in the Southern states, no one is aware of the unfair, back-room practices in New Jersey. The film is made to change this.