the latest effort to overturn a judge's ruling to stop the county line ballot system in June's Democratic primary has been rejected the third Circuit Court of Appeals today denied the motion by county clerks who have argued they don't have enough time to redesign before the primary until oral arguments are heard clerks will have to prepare ballots in an office block format Hoboken mayor Ravi Bhalla was one of the primary candidates running off the line who signed onto the lawsuit arguing that he and fellow candidates were put at a disadvantage in the county line system and this latest news could give him a boost as he challenges the party-backed candidate Congressman Rob Menendez senior political correspondent David Cruz reports in the Brave New World of office block voting every rain soaked wind blown vote counts and Hoboken mayor Ravi Bhalla Ravi Bhalla isn't letting any voter slip away for Bala who's running in the eth Congressional District Democratic primary it's the same game just a different playing field whether or not there's a line or no line will um create a new Dynamic if there's no line where people are not um inherently um swayed towards one side or another but can really look at each race in its own merits what I'm really concerned about is reforming the system as a whole um that may or may not have an impact in this election uh we're going to fight either way to win this election no matter what the disposition of the litigation is Bala filed an amicus brief in the Andy Kim case this week calling for the judge's decision to abandon the line to stand for most observers the decision helps Bhalla who's facing Hudson County machine backed Rob Menendez it doesn't mean that Menendez doesn't carry his uh advantages of incumbency with him with now that there's no line it just means that he's going to have to stand on his own two feet he's going to have to make his case Bala gets to make the case he doesn't have the disadvantage of running off the line it's going to be more of a head-to-head contest between the two of them this is a race that most observers thought was going to be close even when the line was favoring Menendez who we couldn't meet up with today Bala is a well-known two-term mayor of a popular Hudson County City who's also been close to the county organization in the past with the party line out of the equation could independent Kyle J's up to now pretty quiet campaign find some new Mojo it certainly helps I'm definitely not going to be mourning the line um you know it makes it more democratic uh it gives independent candidates like myself more of a chance you know um candidates raise a ton of money just from being on the line so you know I wish it happened sooner but better late than never for sure J's role could actually be as spoiler in a race that's too close to call even single digits to a third candidate could have a big impact but this year's candidates were all set before last week's decision so you're more likely to see its first widespread impact assuming the decision stands in the next primary I think you ultimately have to trust the voters all of these arguments are really another way of saying the voters aren't Discerning enough they're not smart enough let us wise handful of people tell you what's best for you and I just don't accept that I think the voters are smart and are Discerning and we have to expect more of them we have to provide them with information to make those decisions and that's something New Jersey really hasn't done candidates haven't mattered because it's not the candidates that convince the voters it's the ballot structure which is another way of saying that you're running out of excuses for not voting or running for office yourself how good that's going to be for democracy in Hudson County or New Jersey overall is also something about which we'll just have to wait and see I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News