Primary voters get little choice in Assembly races

When New Jersey residents head to the polls for Tuesday's state Assembly primaries, they won't have much choice in whom to support.

Of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts, only five will feature contested primaries - and none in South Jersey's First through Seventh Districts. All 80 Assembly seats are on the ballot.

In the state's closed primaries - only registered Democrats may vote in the Democratic primary, and only registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary - voters are asked to select two candidates to be the party's nominees in November's general election.

Two Republicans and two Democrats are listed on the ballot as running for two seats in 35 districts, meaning most voters won't choose from a bigger pool of candidates.

That's not surprising, said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

"The fact is that most of these people who are running unopposed in the primary simply secured party support well before this election, and therefore people aren't running," he said.

Contested primary elections typically occur when there's an open seat, Dworkin said, "and lots of ambitious people want their crack at it, or it's a fight between two rival parts of a party organization.

"There aren't a lot of fights in the party organizations on either side right now."

Lawmakers in Trenton and political observers are expecting low voter turnout both in June and November, given that the Assembly is the highest office on the ballot. Down the ballot are some elections for local office.

Democrats control both houses of the Legislature. Redistricting and Democrats' 700,000-voter registration edge over Republicans make it unlikely for the GOP to win control of the Assembly.

There is one special election in the state Senate: In the Fifth Legislative District, which includes parts of Camden and Gloucester Counties, incumbent Democrat Nilsa Cruz-Perez is running to fill out the remainder of the term of Donald Norcross, which expires in 2017.

Norcross resigned from the state Senate last year when he was elected to the U.S. House. Cruz-Perez was appointed to fill Norcross' seat until the next general election.

No Republican candidate appears on the primary ballot for that election.

In such districts, prospective candidates who aren't listed on the primary ballot have until Tuesday to file petitions to appear on the general election ballot in November, according to the state Division of Elections.

As of the most recent campaign-finance filings this month, Democratic candidates had raised about $7.7 million, more than double the amount raised by Republican candidates. Democrats also had spent more money and had more cash on hand than their GOP counterparts.