Here’s why we are excited to endorse Ravi Bhalla for LD32 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: Rotating the order of candidates isn’t just fair, its extremely practical and easy to implement with a clerks office.

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: During the era of Donald Trump, people are pushing for more democracy, not less. Slogans often create power vacuums and make it harder for first-time candidates to run for office. It’s a leftover mentality from the past county line machine that needs to be left behind.

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: Same Day voter registration, expansion of vote by mail and early voting are critical in voter participation. Hudson County has the worst voter turnouts in the state. You can call it voter apathy, but we caused it by our past ballot design and lack of the common sense measures in H.R.1

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: I fully support expanding financial disclosure reforms and believe we should strengthen the ELEC’s authority to hold candidates accountable for not filing their Public Financial Disclosures. I also believe that the next Assembly needs to reverse course on OPRA and strengthen the past iteration of the law before its obliteration.

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

Comment: The line wrecked havoc on New Jersey’s ability to have fair and transparent election processes. Even though the line is gone we need to continue to rebuild the public’s trust in the democratic process. One of those ways is to make it easier to run for office for first time candidates. Public funding allows more diverse candidates of different background the opportunity to run.

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

Comment: Redistricting needs to be transparent and accessible. Nonpartisan Commissions ensure that gerrymandering which disenfranchises voters of color and voters of lower socioeconomic status doesn’t occur.

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

Comment: We must create a strong barrier in New Jersey to shield our citizens from the damage caused by the Trump Administration. The Office of Public Advocate plays a crucial role in this, guiding residents to resources and fostering greater trust with our communities, showing that government can and should work for them.

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.

Comment: The current budget process is absurd; we need set review periods. As it stands, the system is unsustainable—it gives legislators too little time to review the bill, shortchanges policy experts, and results in budgets that fail to meet the needs of everyday New Jersey families.

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: In March, I joined many New Jersey residents in waiting over four hours to speak at a hearing on ballot design—mostly because the board intentionally delayed things to wear out frustrated voters. It’s time to introduce online testimony options and require legislative meetings to publish their agendas 24 hours beforehand.

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: States with half our population density and size have full-time legislators. New Jersey needs to take similar steps to ensure we’re actively advocating for our voters and staying accessible to our communities. If elected, I will push for legislation to make our legislature full-time.

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More information about Ravi Bhalla:

Email: ravi@brennanbhallafornj.com
Phone: ‪201-691-7414
Campaign website: www.bhallafornj.com
Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X
Party affiliation: Democratic party

Date of Birth: 5/10/1973
Current Occupation: Mayor
Education: Bachelor’s in Political Psychology from the University of California Berkeley, Masters of Public Policy and Public Administration from the London School of Economics and a Juris Doctorate from Tulane University Law School
Public/party service: Civil Rights Attorney for Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader; City Councilman At Large for Hoboken 2009-2017; Hoboken Mayor 2017-2025