By Philip Sean Curran
FREEHOLD – Republicans running in Monmouth County will occupy the first ballot position in November’s general election after the annual ballot drawing Aug.12, an outcome based purely on chance.
County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon and her staff performed the legally mandated process at her elections division office in Freehold. Per state law, the names of the two parties were put on slips of paper in small capsules, placed in a covered box that she shook and then turned upside down over her head, a twist she added. When it came time to pull out the capsule, Republican was the winner.
The drawing happened 85 days before the Nov. 5 Election Day. This November is an off-year election, when there are no statewide or federal elections on the ballot. In an interview after the drawing, Hanlon, the county clerk since 2015, said there is more interest and sometimes controversy in the ballot drawing in years when there are federal elections.
“So next year…I’m sure it will be an exciting year here,” she said of 2020, when the presidential race will be at the top of the ballot.
Hanlon, a Republican, said she involves her deputy in the ballot drawing because she never wants “to be accused of anything.”
“So I like to have people involved,” she said, “so the process is no one can say, ‘Oh, Christine you did this or that.’ ”
Some candidates running in November downplayed the significance of positioning on the ballot, saying it does not affect the chances of winning.
“As long as I’m on the ballot somewhere, that’s all that counts,” said Monmouth County Freeholder Gerry P. Scharfenberger, a Republican running for state Assembly in the 13th legislative district. “You know I’m a hog, so I have the most letters, so I’ll be the biggest name on the ballot no matter where they put me. So I guess from that standpoint, nothing changes.”
“You want to try and get your message out and hope people, no matter where you are (on the ballot), will seek you out because you’re the better one,” Scharfenberger said.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know that ballot positioning really has much to do with the outcome of an election,” said Nick DiRocco, a Wall Township committeeman and a Republican running for freeholder. “I think most people really are focused on candidates and issues.”
But Matawan-Aberdeen School Board president Allison Friedman, a Democrat running for Assembly against Scharfenberger and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso, said she thought ballot position was important. She also touched on what she called “ballot drop-off,” where voters don’t realize they are supposed to vote for two candidates and wind up voting for only one.
“Even if you look at the primary and you look at the candidates running for Assembly, there’s usually a couple of points difference in favor of the person who’s in that top spot,” she said.
In the fall, Assembly races will be at the top of the ballot, followed by the contests for county sheriff, freeholder and municipal and school board offices. Moira Nelson, a Democrat running for freeholder, declined to comment. Ballot position is seen as more critical for school board races, where voters tend to choose the first three candidates listed on the ballot. Jeff Delaney, a member of the Matawan-Aberdeen School Board since 2009, was among the school board candidates from around Monmouth County in Hanlon’s office to witness the ballot drawing. He drew the second position in his contest.
“The way this works out, this is, in fact, the election,” he said, motioning to where the drawing had taken place. “Because nobody pays any attention to school board when they’re voting. If you said select two, they take the top two. They don’t put any thought into it.”
