Nearly all the counties sued by Rep. Andy Kim over New Jersey’s district line primary have settlement agreements in place or are awaiting approval, but the two counties and the two party organizations have yet to reach an agreement to resolve the case.

Clerks in Bergen and Union counties are the last remaining government officials in litigation over whether New Jersey’s district lines system — a ballot design that groups party-backed candidates into a single row or column — violates First Amendment protections of free association and the constitutional constitution. Provision that limits government control over election results.

Suit, Presented by who (D-03) A few months after he began his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat, leading a federal judge to rule 19 districts using a new ballot design He created a special House committee to enact the new ballot design for the Democratic primary in June.

“I think there’s a real opportunity here for everyone to put the case behind them,” said Flavio Komuves, an attorney representing Kim and other plaintiffs. “I think the plaintiffs are offering extremely generous settlement terms, and we don’t want to see a situation where the remaining clerks spend tax money on a hearing or other hearings that shouldn’t be necessary.”

Attorneys representing clerks in Union and Bergen counties did not respond to a request for comment.

Seventeen county clerks agreed to compromise terms that required them to print ballots to use what are known as office block ballots (which group candidates by the office they are seeking) and draw random ballot positions for each office. The settlements each seek $32,533 in attorney fees for Kim.

Eleven counties have finalized agreements under those terms, and clerks in six other counties (Hudson, Hunterdon, Morris, Ocean, Cape May and Passaic) have accepted them in principle but are awaiting approval from county commissions.

The Camden County Democratic Committee and the Morris County Republican Committee, which intervened in the case, also have not yet reached settlement agreements.

Kim’s lawsuit targeted 19 county clerks and argued that county-line ballots violated First Amendment protections of free association by denying some candidates the top voting position unless they shared the same slogan as a candidate for higher office. The complaint also alleged that these ballots violated the election clause of the U.S. Constitution by influencing race results.

Critics of the county’s ballot measures say they give party-backed candidates an unfair advantage at the ballot box by giving them better ballot placement.

In March, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Kuraishi banned the use of district lines in Democratic primaries; Kim and the two congressional candidates found that the intervening plaintiff was likely to succeed at trial, and a federal appeals court panel met. later upheld his decision. Because there were no Republican plaintiffs in the case, Qureshi’s order did not ban the use of district lines in GOP races.

Ballots in Sussex and Salem counties do not include county lines, and clerks there are not named in Kim’s lawsuit.

The parties appeared before Magistrate Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni for a settlement conference on Thursday.

Bergen County Clerk John Hogan is the only remaining clerk in a related lawsuit filed by former congressional candidate Christine Conforti, who challenged the county lines after the 2020 primary. Camden Democrats and Morris Republicans are also parties to this lawsuit.

Special House committee on Tuesday took statements from clerks and other election officials, It’s the first step in a process in which lawmakers have vowed to restore New Jersey’s ballot rolls through legislation.