Here’s why we enthusiastically endorse Carolyn Rush for LD1 Assembly:

Candidate order: The bill to reform New Jersey’s primary ballots (A5116) moves New Jersey closer to fair primaries by eliminating the county line ballot and instituting an office block ballot design. However, candidate order for the primary ballot will still be determined by the County Clerk or Municipal Clerk drawing names out of a bin. This provides an advantage for the candidate drawn in first position and has resulted in some clerks drawing the party endorsed candidates for first position a statistically improbable number of times. I support the following reform that would ensure a more fair candidate order on the ballot:
Rotating the order of candidates for each office by voting precinct, so each candidate appears on the ballot first, second, and so forth, approximately the same number of times (see the recently introduced bill A5181) 

Comment: I believe that rotating the order of candidates for each office by voting precinct is the most fair way to print ballots.

Slogans: I support prohibiting the use of slogans to express party endorsements on primary election ballots. New Jersey is the only state that allows primary candidates to use slogans to indicate endorsements.

Comment: Ballots are not for campaigning! It is the candidate’s responsibility to educate the voters prior to election day.

Voter access: I support adopting parts of H.R.1 in New Jersey in order to increase voter participation, ensure access to the ballot box, and strengthen elections, including specifically same day registration, early voting and a paper trail for machine voting that enables verification.

Comment: We should be doing anything we can to make voting easier, more accessible and more reliable for the average citizen.

Ethics reform: I support ethics reforms that would require broader disclosure of financial information and the release of income taxes by candidates for county-level and state-level public office, as a means of transparency.

Comment: It is critical that we’ve restored trust in public officials and different ethics reforms would help make that possible.

Campaign funding: I support the public funding of campaigns for all state-level elected offices (i.e., the state legislature and gubernatorial elections).

Comment: If this would level the playing field, I would be all for it!

Redistricting: I support placing a nonpartisan commission in charge of the legislative redistricting process.

Comment: Both parties are guilty of gerrymandering districts; a truly nonpartisan commission may be the right answer but additional legislation may be necessary to ensure even the nonpartisan commission does not continue to gerrymander districts.

Public Advocate: I support passing legislation to reinstate the statewide Office of the Public Advocate that was eliminated in 2010.

Posting of state bills: I support requiring that bills be posted in written form at least 72 hours prior to committee discussion or vote, and that budget bills be posted at least 5 business days in advance of discussion or vote, to improve transparency in the legislative process.

State legislative meetings: I support making all committee meetings accessible to the public for attendance and testimony by online means (e.g., via zoom) and streaming of voting sessions to increase availability and transparency of government.

Comment: Additionally, committee meetings, public testimony and voting sessions should be recorded and the recordings should be available to the public for members of the public who are unable to participate in real time.

Full time legislature: I support making the state legislature full-time and prohibiting the simultaneous holding of other paid positions, so as to eliminate conflicts of interest and sources of influence and pressure on state legislators.

Comment: This would help eliminate conflicts of interest.

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More information about Carolyn Rush:

Email: ld1democrats@gmail.com
Phone: 609-800-4440
Campaign website: https://www.ld1dems.com/
Social media: Facebook, Instagram
Party affiliation: Democratic party

Date of Birth: 1/20/1962
Current Occupation: Retired Engineer
Education: BS in Computer Science, Montclair State University
Public/party service:

• I was a co-plaintiff on Andy Kim’s federal lawsuit regarding the constitutionality of the NJ County line ballot system; I testified multiple times before the Assembly Select Committee on the new office block ballot design.
• I am a member of the following organizations and actively work to advance their respective goals: American Promise (seeking a constitutional amendment to allow limits to be set on campaign financing – I participate in annual Lobby Day Events to educate elected officials); Voters Choice NJ (to educate citizens about the value of Ranked Choice Voting); Moms Demand Action (to educate the public about ways to reduce gun violence); NJ Wind Work (Committed to advancing offshore wind projects off the coast of New Jersey); C.E.A.S.E. (Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effect, working to ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos to provide a safe workplace for casino dealers).
• I am a Committee Member of the Cape May County Democratic Committee.