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Bracketing comes to ballots Experts say change creates chance for confusion in school board election by Rob Anthes
ranthes@communitynews.org
Ballots in New Jersey look a little different this year, and the change has experts and officials concerned about the potential for Election Day confusion. A law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy May 30 allows school board candidates to file joint nominating petitions and to be bracketed on the ballot. The change to petitions has little effect on voters. But allowing school board candidates to be grouped together—similar to candidates of the same party for political office—has altered how county clerks construct the ballot, and ultimately
changed the appearance of the final product voters see on voteby-mail ballots and in booths on Election Day. This change in appearance is what worries some, especially because no one knows what the effects of the change will be. The law calls for the initial elections with bracketing to be used as a study period for lawmakers. Much of the burden falls to county clerks, who have been left no choice but to obey the law with little guidance on how to enact it. Ballots already looked different in every county in New Jersey, and clerks across the state have had to figure out how to best layout the ballot with the addition of bracketing. In Mercer County, clerk Paula Sollami Covello has added a bold blue line across the ballot to separate races for political office from the school board election. This alteration will appear in every Mercer municipality, but
only three will also have bracketed candidates: Hamilton, Lawrence and Robbinsville. Voters in each of these townships will see school board candidates laid out horizontally side-by-side at the bottom of the ballot, with bracketed candidates stacked beneath their running mates. At the far left, underneath the office title, are instructions on how many candidates voters can pick. Voters can select that number of candidates, regardless of if they part of a bracket or not. For example, if there are three open seats, you can select any three of the candidates in that race—the row and column do not matter. You do not have to vote for all, or any, of the bracketed candidates. And one vote counts only for one candidate— if want to vote for all of the candidates in the bracket, you must select them individually. See BRACKET, Page 16
Local artist takes a ‘Mind Stroll’ Alia Bensliman’s show on display at Artworks Nov. 3–24 by miChele AlpeRin
Thomas Wang checks out some old books from Windsor School during the Village of Windsor’s 200th birthday party celebration Sept. 29, 2018. For more photos, turn to Page 23. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
The work of Tunisian American artist Alia Bensliman is wide ranging. It integrates and contrasts the Eastern symbolism and experiences of her native North Africa with the peculiarly American and Western impressions of her married life in New Jersey. But it also follows the emotional journeys of a woman exploring the meanings behind her experiences.
Of her upcoming show, “Mind Stroll” at the Artworks Community Gallery from Nov. 3-24, she says, “When you go to that show, you really go through my brain and see all the many and different thoughts I have, and it is a sort of roller coaster of thoughts. It’s going to be interesting even for me when I go there and see all my pieces hanging in the same space—it is beautiful and also challenging.” Bensliman has always loved to tell stories, and because she is dyslexic, the storytelling always happened through art. “It was difficult for me to write or read,” and “my art was sort
of therapy, so I didn’t feel really different from people who could write.” Bensliman traces her artistic talent to her grandmothers, both artists. As a youngster, she took lots of art classes, but the artistic technique she still uses today started to develop as a teen while she talked on the phone with friends. “I was doing many lines and felt like I was putting my feelings in those lines,” she says. “The drawing was detailed, with textures, lines, and dots—not light and shade—and many, many colors, with pens, pencils and markers.” See STROLL, Page 14
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