well this could be the end of the County Line ballot system oral arguments were heard today in the third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia from the remaining players in the ongoing lawsuit over whether the court should uphold a federal judge's decision to abolish the party line in the upcoming Democratic primary election New Jersey is the only state that uses this ballot design giving Prime positioning to candidates endorsed by local party leaders US Senate candidate Andy Kim filed the initi lawsuit claiming the ballot is unconstitutional and gives insiders an unfair Advantage federal judge zahed karashi agreed and scrapped the lines for the Democratic primary only his decision was quickly appealed by most of the state's County clerks who later dropped their suit now the Camden County Democratic committee is the only appellant left along with several other County party organizations who later joined the fight cameras weren't allowed inside the courthouse today but correspondent Ted Goldberg was and as he reports the judge appeared skeptical of their defense to keep the county line ballots as we've known them the fate of New Jersey's County Line could be decided across the Delaware River lawyers are arguing for and against the county line in federal appeals court in Philadelphia after a district judge ruled that state Democrats must redraw their ballots ahead of the June 4th primary the issue is the right of the party to associate is param now it's really been a strain on Democracy in New Jersey for a really long time and I think the Public's behind us so we have the court of public opinion and we hope to have the third circuit as well William tambi is representing the Camden County Democratic committee one of two County organizations fighting to preserve preferential treatment on primary ballots the Cami County Democrat committee has the right the constitutional right uh and the statutory right to affiliate and endorse those candidates that they believe the committee believes will best serve the people that it represents his opponents represent a group of people including Congressman Andy Kim who's running for Senate after battling first lady Tammy Murphy for County endorsements the parties in New Jersey already have the right for endorsement they already have the right to slogan so then is it a question of do they have a super duper right one that extends beyond the two counties in New Jersey and extends beyond the 49 other states in the country I don't think that there is a right to put a government thumb on the scale um I think there were certain different kind of associational Rights but all of that was taken into consideration by the district court judge I think we're seeing the end of the line for too long New Jersey democracy has been designed by drawn by limited by a county line where County party chairs select their preferred candidates giving them the line and with it an insurmountable Advantage during the last court battle judge zahed karashi ruled that the county line had to go and expert testimony said it provided a huge lift for candidates The District Court found that there were really severe burdens that the that the county line imposes upon candidates uh has implications on voters as well too it's really a fundamental democracy issue it was still only in the case for 4 days we will have the opportunity to present expert testimony and the like to rebut that which was presented by the political theorists who rendered opinions where they excluded every variable except for the one to prove their thesis tambi says the county line is needed to tell voters which candidates have been vetted and approved by local committees we assume that the voter's educated uh and we assume that the voter's interested but there are some people that are going to go into a ballot looking for familiarity and they're not going to have that at one point during oral arguments judges asked himy if not having a county line is unconstitutional wouldn't that make ballots unconstitutional in two new Jersey counties and the other 49 states tusi said he would not opine on the constitutionality of other states ballots but other lawyers took it as a sign that judges might rule their way it really begs the question why do 49 other states and even two counties in New Jersey do it this way and what's so important as to why New Jersey does it here and there was nothing in the uh in the record um as far as evidence for why we need to do it differently in New Jersey appell at court judge Kent Jordan says the third circuit will get back to us promptly meaning we could get a decision as soon as next week in Philadelphia I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music]