Here’s why we enthusiastically endorse Mahmoud Desouky for LD16 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) 

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: I agree with prohibiting the use of slogans, as a challenger candidate who received more petition signatures and has a stronger volunteer base than the party-endorsed candidates, I think the party slogan gives an unfair advantage to incumbents and makes the process less democratic.

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: YES! We need same day registration and need to expand early voting. We should also make voting day a state holiday and allow 17 year olds to vote in Board of Education elections as has been done in Newark. I strongly support legislation that would make it easier, not harder, for more people to vote.

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.

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

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

Comment: Yes, this is a no-brainer we should have independent commissions that are nonpartisan and do not have an inherent interest in the way that redistricting is done. It would make elections more competitive rather than favor one party over the other and allow for more independent and third party candidates to be competitive as well.

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.

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: Yes, especially since the legislature voted to increase their own salaries, being a State Assemblyman should be their full-time job. I also think that the staff funding should increase as well so that legislators can hire more staff or pay the current staff they do have more money as many of their staff members work incredibly hard. They should also be required to disclose any investments they may have in companies which receive public contracts.

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More information about Mahmoud Desouky:

Email: vote4desouky@gmail.com
Phone: 732-209-5633
Campaign website: https://desoukyforassembly.com/
Social media: Facebook, Instagram
Party affiliation: Democratic party

Current Occupation: Small business owner
Education: Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University
Public/Political Service: Served on the organizing team for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign and as an intern for Congressional Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman for a year.