Andrew Appel for Freedom to Tinker:

The judge ruled that the county line “thumb on the scale” is illegal, and in March 2024 ordered New Jersey counties to use an office-block layout in the June primary election.   (Fortunately, the ExpressVote XL doesn’t require county lines, and can be configured to office-block ballots.)

But how and why did New Jersey counties decide in 2002 to use the AVC Advantage, and in 2019 to use the ExpressVote XL?  For over 20 years I’ve been studying voting machine security, voting-machine design, election procedures, and New Jersey elections.  I had been mystified why New Jersey county commissions clung so tightly to their rows-and-columns voting machines, when those machines are much more expensive and much less secure.  It wasn’t until the Kim v. Hanlon lawsuit that I finally understood the picture.

The County Commissioners who decide on voting machines are elected officials, Democrat and Republican, who are generally members of their county political organizations and endorsed by those political machines.  The members of County Boards of Elections, that make recommendations to the County Commissions, are selected by the political parties.  The “county line” helps county political bosses gain influence over elected officials, because those officials don’t want to be in “Ballot Siberia” in their next elections. 

The ExpressVote XL, with its large 32-inch screen, facilitates a rows-and-columns ballot layout.  The rows-and-columns layout allows a “county line,” where the party-machine-endorsed candidates are in favored position and the outsider candidates are in Ballot Siberia.  Maybe that’s the reason that New Jersey counties fought so hard to keep using full-face touchscreen voting machines, 22 years ago when they chose to purchase the AVC Advantage and 5 years ago when they chose the ExpressVote XL.  To preserve that thumb on the scale, they were willing to spend much more money on less secure voting machines.