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MAYS LANDING Democrats are criticizing Atlantic County Clerk Joe Giralo, a Republican, over what they call delays in getting mail-in ballots out for the June 7 primary, and for not posting sample vote-by-mail ballots to the web page.

But Giralo said Thursday his office has done an amazing job of meeting every state deadline, even though a federal lawsuit challenging use of the "county line" on ballots wasn't settled until the last minute, leaving clerks unable to finalize layouts.

"The vote-by-mail ballots didnt hit (get delivered) until about 10 days after commencement date," said Atlantic County Democratic Chair Michael Suleiman on Thursday. "We are one of the only counties without a vote-by-mail sample on the website."

Giralo said he commenced the mailing a day before he was required to by law, dropping off 3,788 ballots to the Mays Landing post office himself.

He posted photos April 19 of himself preparing the ballots for mailing to his Facebook page.

Most of the rest of about 30,000 mail-in-ballots were mailed by the printer through a third-party mailer, Giralo said.

"We have met every statute, even with what we were up against we still managed to meet every deadline in this office," Giralo said.

On April 17, a federal appeals court affirmed a lower court's decision ordering New Jersey Democrats to stop using the county line design. Clerks had just two days to finalize new ballots, get them printed and start mailing them.

The new "office block" format for vote-by-mail ballots is easy to read, according to Atlantic County Clerk Joe Giralo, and going out to voters on about 20,000 vote-by-mail ballots now.

State law requires mailing begin by 45 days before the June 7 election, which was April 20. It does not require all mail-in ballots to go out by then, and does not require delivery by a specific date.

Giralo said he is not posting sample vote-by-mail ballots to the web page because they are different than the regular sample ballots and may cause confusion.

He and his staff are proofreading 60+ regular sample ballots for all municipalities, and those will be posted as soon as the proofing is done, he said.

The office just got the proofs to examine Wednesday, Giralo said.

He also willbe posting the machine fronts online, to show voters exactly what they will see this year when they vote in the primary.

The website does, however, now have a list of primary candidates.

Other counties in South Jersey do have sample vote-by-mail ballots on their websites, including Cape May, Cumberland and Camden counties.

Ocean County does not, but like Atlantic has a list of primary candidates.

A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower courts decision to order New Jersey Democrats to scrap a ballot design widely viewed as helping candidates with establishment backing.

Suleiman, who said he didn't get his mail-in ballot until April 29, said his Open Public Records Act request for proof of the mailing of all of the ballots was denied.

Giralo said he doesn't have that proof, as it is in the hands of a third party mailer contracted by the county's printer.

"People had already received them Saturday (April 21) in Buena," Giralo said. "We have no control (over how long they take to be delivered) after they leave here."

Suleiman also said there was a mistake on some mail-in ballots sent to Brigantine, with an unopposed Democratic City Council candidate in the 4th Ward mistakenly listed as a 1st Ward candidate.

But Giralo said that was not his office's mistake.

"It was an unfortunate mistake made by the municipal clerk," Giralo said. "She certified the candidate in the wrong ward."

The Brigantine clerk's office confirmed the mistake was theirs Thursday.

Giralo called Lynn Sweeney a "great clerk" and said "a mistake can happen to anybody."

The new Democratic chairman of the Atlantic County Board of Elections says he's facing space and manpower shortages that could threaten the security of the presidential election, while a Republican leader claims a hostile work environment is the real problem there.

"Rick DeLucry has been on council for well over 10 years. Someone in the clerk's office ... could and should have caught that he was listed in the wrong ward," Suleiman countered.

Corrected ballots have already gone out to about 160 voters in Brigantine's 1st and 4th wards, Giralo said. If a voter returns both the original and the corrected ballot, the corrected one will be counted.

If only the incorrect ballot is returned, it will be counted for all offices above the ward races, he said.

Giralo is going out most nights to community groups explaining what this year's ballots will look like and why the change was required.

"Since the vote-by-mails went out, we have fielded hundreds of phone calls. People are very confused," Giralo said.

The office block format lists candidates under the office sought. They are listed in random order determined by a drawing.

In the past, candidates were listed under slogans for groups supporting them. The "county line" advantage went to those supported by county organizations, so local candidates endorsed by the party were listed under leaders for president, national and state office, giving them what critics have called an unfair advantage.

Giralo said he decided to scrap the county line for Republicans as well, to organize both parties' ballots the same and save time and money for county taxpayers.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post

609-841-2895

mpost@pressofac.com

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Atlantic County Democrats want faster mailing of ballots - Press of Atlantic City

House Speaker Mike Johnson narrowly avoided being removed from his position, largely due to the backing of House Democrats.

On Wednesday, the House voted to set aside Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes motion to remove Johnson from his role, with both Republicans and Democrats supporting this decision.

Although 11 Republicans sided with Greenes motion, the majority of representatives, totaling a 359-43 vote with seven Democrats abstaining, upheld retaining Johnson as House Speaker.

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This vote came unexpectedly, as Greene had initially withdrawn her threat on Tuesday but then resurfaced with a surprise attempt to unseat Johnson on Thursday.

Despite predictions that Greenes effort would fail due to lack of support from her own party, Democratic leaders stood firm in their decision to support Johnson, citing a need to prevent disruption within the House.

While most Democrats aligned with their leaderships stance, some disagreed, arguing that Johnsons political ideology should not be endorsed without concessions from their party.

Related Story: RFK Jr. Says a Worm Ate Part of His Brain, but Hes Better Now

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York emphasized the importance of sending a clear message against what she termed Johnsons extremism.

The future of Greenes attempts to challenge Johnson remains uncertain, leaving questions about potential further votes on his removal.

To read more and to see how House Democrats voted, click here.

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163 House Democrats Voted to Protect Speaker Mike Johnson's Job - GV Wire

Donald Trump once called Bill Barr, his former attorney general, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy. When Mr. Barr recently endorsed Mr. Trump, rather than express gratitude or graciousness, the former president said, Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word Lethargic from my statement. Thank you Bill. MAGA2024!

This is the sort of thing Mr. Trump is known for, even with people who came around and bent the knee. It is a critical part of his politics and its an area that pollsters arent fully measuring and Democratic strategists rarely take into consideration.

Politics is a dominance competition, and Mr. Trump is an avid and ruthless practitioner of it. He offers a striking contrast with most Democrats, who are more likely to fret over focus-group data and issue ever more solemn pledges to control prescription drug prices.

What these Democrats seem to have forgotten is that they have their own liberal tradition of dominance politics and if they embrace it, they would improve their chances of defeating Trumpism. But unlike Mr. Trump, whose lies and conduct after the 2020 election were damaging to democracy, leaders like Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exerted dominance in liberal ways and to prodemocratic ends. They obeyed the law, told the truth, and honored liberal values.

Psychologists have noted the effectiveness of dominance in elections and governing. My recent research also finds that what I call Mr. Trumps high-dominance strategy is far and away his most formidable asset.

High-dominance leaders shape reality. They embrace conflict, chafe at playing defense and exhibit self-assurance even in pursuit of unpopular goals. By contrast, low-dominance leaders accept reality as it is and shun conflict. They tell people what they think they want to hear and prefer mollification to confrontation.

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Opinion | Trump Knows Dominance Wins. Someone Tell Democrats. - The New York Times

The Democratic Party is intensifying its effort to prevent third parties and independent candidates from getting on the ballot and challenging President Joe Biden this year, according to reports byPolitico, theNew York Times and other media outlets.

The report in theTimes, published April 29, notes the vast resources that right-wing independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been compelled to expend in his push for ballot status:

The effort has already cost his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a supporting super PAC at least $2.4 million more, federal campaign finance records show. It has involved a number of professionals who specialize in getting people on the ground with clipboards and petitions and helping candidates navigate the complicated process. Their success is what will make or break Mr. Kennedys campaign.

Kennedy has paid a single firm with expertise in ballot access, Texas-based Accelevate2020, $689,000 for campaign consulting, and the campaign is advertising for full-time petition signature collectors in New York state, offering $40 an hour on Craigslist.

While Kennedy himself is a multi-millionaire, his campaign is being financed by billionaire Timothy Mellon, heir to a banking fortune, and his running mate Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google founder Sergei Brin, one of the 10 richest Americans.

The politics of his campaign are thoroughly reactionary, a combination of right-wing demagogy about slashing the federal deficit and eliminating corporate corruption of the Democrats and Republicans, all-out support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza, coupled with opposition to the war in Ukraine, and support for cutting military spending overall. Add to this Kennedys signature preoccupation with denouncing vaccination, including essential protections for children, as well as the vaccines against COVID-19 that have saved millions of lives.

Neither his right-wing nostrums nor his famous name have protected Kennedy from attack by both the Democrats and more recently Trump, with both sides in the capitalist political duopoly fearing any outlet for popular discontent outside the two-party system.

A follow-up report in theTimesTuesday outlined the many obstacles created by the Democrats and the Republicans to make it more difficultand in some states nearly impossiblefor candidates outside the two-party system to run against them.

Some states have rules against people coming in from out of state to help a campaign procure signatures; others have rules that restrict a campaigns ability to hire paid canvassers instead of relying solely on volunteers. Some states allow months for independent candidates to gather signatures, while others have short windows. Some states require a vice presidential nominee on the petition. The work of actually gathering thousands of signatures, and ensuring that all these rules are met, is grueling and often costly.

ThePoliticoreport, published May 3, gives considerable detail about the internal discussions among Democratic-aligned super PACs after their success in pushing the No Labels group of conservative Democrats out of the election. The right-wing group, financed by billionaires Harlan Crow (real estate) and Michael Smith (LNG gas), recently declared that it would not nominate a candidate for president, largely because it had failed to convince any prominent corporate politician to challenge Biden and Trump.

The coalition of pro-Biden fundraisers is now turning its sights on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Politico wrote, message-testing anti-Kennedy advertising and monitoring Kennedy campaign events in order to collect negative information on his campaign. This could include a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, depending on where Kennedy obtains ballot status, particularly in the so-called battleground states.

The effort to suppress any challenge to the two-party monopoly already involves considerable resources. According toPolitico:

To date, the campaign against Kennedy has largely focused on research and legal challenges. The Democratic National Committee hired veteran staffers to coordinate their push back against Kennedy, particularly through media stories about Kennedy. Theyve alsofiled Federal Elections Commission complaints against Kennedys allies. The outside groups, like Clear Choice PAC and American Bridge, are diving into opposition research and messaging. MoveOn, a 10 million-member organization, reassigned staffers from No Labels-focused efforts toward Kennedy, as well as bringing on additional staff.

Kennedy has ballot status in Michigan after gaining the nomination of the Natural Law Party, a political formation established by the transcendental meditation religious cult. The party was largely disbanded in 2004 but retains a ballot line, only in Michigan, by means of third-party campaigns for minor offices where it was the only alternative to the Democrats and Republicans on the ballot.

The Kennedy campaign claims it has obtained and filed enough petition signatures to get on the ballot in Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina. It is currently petitioning in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, and has announced plans to do the same in Wisconsin. All these states are expected to be closely contested in November, and in all these states the Democrats will challenge Kennedys petitions.

The Democratic Party campaign to deny ballot status to third parties and independent candidates is by no means limited to Kennedy, thePoliticoreport notes. It includes Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West, a former left Democrat and supporter of Biden against Trump in 2020.

In March, it was widely reported that the Democratic National Committee had set up a special unit with a sizeable budget to coordinate efforts to force third-party candidates to play by the rules, which means making use of various anti-democratic legal technicalities to prevent political opponents from obtaining ballot status.

Most of the legal challenges to Kennedy, and presumably to Jill Stein and Cornel West, are likely to fail. But they have the additional benefit, from the standpoint of the Democrats, of diverting time and resources which these independent efforts would otherwise devote to campaigning.

Similar methods have been employed by the Democrats against the Socialist Equality Party in previous election campaigns, notably in Midwestern states like Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, where Democrats mobilized lawyers to check nominating petitions and seek to invalidate thousands of signatures on spurious grounds.

Both the Democrats and Republicans have already engaged in such sordid tactics this year in two congressional campaigns in Michigan. In one case, the Republicans challenged petitions by Democrat Curtis Hertel in the district which includes Lansing. In the other, Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar challenged a prospective primary opponent, fellow Democrat Adam Hollier, in the district that covers much of Detroit and the Downriver suburbs.

Both challenges are anti-democratic, seizing on supposed errors in paperwork. The Republicans claim that Hertel made fatal errors in his candidate affidavit and nominating petitions by listing the office he is seeking as US Congress rather than US House of Representatives.

Thanedar challenged 791 of the 1,555 signatures filed by Hollier to meet a requirement of 1,000 valid signatures, claiming that the signers are not registered or registered at a different address, are duplicates, or live outside the district or the signatures are forged (based on claimed similarities in handwriting).

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Democrats step up campaign to block third parties - WSWS

OMAHA Nebraskas 2nd District Republican primary U.S. House race, with challenger Dan Frei running to Rep. Don Bacons right, appears to be opening left-leaning wallets, too.

National Democrats increasingly see division among some Omaha-area Republicans as boosting State Sen. Tony Vargas chances of flipping Nebraskas most competitive House district their way.

This week, a key funder for Democrats trying to wrest the House from GOP control, House Majority PAC, announced reserving $2 million in digital and TV advertising in the Omaha ad market for this fall.

That is up from about $660,000 in 2022, when House Republicans were in a stronger financial position headed into a mid-term cycle with a Democratic president in office. They spent $900,000 in 2020, the last presidential election cycle.

House Majority PAC will do whatever it takes to ensure NE-02 flips from red to blue come November, said Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for House Majority PAC. Don Bacons anti-choice, extremist record makes it abundantly clear Bacon stands with Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda, not the people of NE-02.

Nationally, the GOP equivalent Congressional Leadership Fund has seen the Democrats pick up fundraising for a 2024 general election likely to be dominated by a presidential rematch.

The House Majority PAC and its related super PAC outraised the Congressional Leadership Fund and its super PAC by $7 million in the first quarter of 2024, $37 million to $30 million. The CLF has still raised more to date this cycle.

The shift is part of a broader national trend, with the Democratic National Committee and its aligned groups outraising the Republican National Committee and its allies.

The Republican group has not yet announced its ad reservations for the fall but said they have incredibly strong incumbents and a political environment that likely favors them.

Sources within the GOP-aligned group say the House Majority PAC often overstates how much it plans to spend, but that they are taking seriously the threat of more money being spent.

Cycle after cycle, Democrats spend millions hoping to knock out Don Bacon, yet he keeps winning because hes one of the most effective Members of Congress and is a true fighter for Nebraskans in Washington, said Courtney Parella, a spokeswoman for the leadership fund. This cycle wont be any different.

Traditional fundraising is also up for Democratic State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, who reported raising $770,000 in the first quarter of 2024 and having $1.6 million in cash on hand.

That is roughly doubling what he had by this point in his 2022 race with Bacon.

Bacon has stepped up his fundraising, too. His campaign reported raising $709,000 in the first quarter.

Bacons cash on hand climbed to $1.9 million from his 2022 total at this point in the race of $1.1 million, but he may have to spend some of that money on Frei and the GOP primary. His campaign said it will have enough to defend his strong conservative record.

Freis first meaningful fundraising tallies since launching his campaign in January had him raising nearly $80,000 with about $54,000 in cash on hand, his campaign said. He was endorsed by the Nebraska Republican Party.

Most local political observers expect Bacon to survive the Frei challenge. But they say he needs to consolidate conservative support without alienating swing voters in a swing district.

And which party controls the House could hinge on the 2nd District vote. With Republicans losing another seat to a retirement next week, their advantage will shrink to 217-213, at least until special elections and regular elections can be held.

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Democrats investing more in Vargas during Bacon-Frei GOP primary fight in NE-02 Nebraska Examiner - Nebraska Examiner