Good Government Coalition of New Jersey is a political coalition comprised of mostly left-of-center groups that advocate for changes to the election system in the state of New Jersey. It recommends the introduction of “public campaign funding” for all state-level elected offices, increasing the amount of oversight and accountability on state elections, and increased voter education on candidates.

Good Government Coalition of New Jersey claims to have been founded by a “group of concerned NJ residents,” to be “strictly non-partisan,” and to operate “on a fully volunteer basis.” ¹

Activities

Good Government Coalition of New Jersey is a political coalition comprised of mostly left-of-center groups that advocate for the reform of the election system in the state of New Jersey. As of February 2023, the coalition had more than twenty member organizations and was led by a board of trustees. ²

It recommends the introduction of “public campaign funding” for all state-level elected offices, increasing stronger election transparency and ethics regulations, increasing the amount of oversight and accountability on state elections by instituting an elected public advocate, and voter education on candidates. ³

The coalition has been endorsed by William E. Schluter, a former New Jersey state legislator and independent gubernatorial candidate and the author of Soft Corruption: How Unethical Conduct Undermines Good Government and What To Do About It. ⁴

BetterBallotsNJ

In 2023, Good Government Coalition of New Jersey was advertising the #BetterBallotsNJ campaign in a pop-up on its homepage. ⁵ The pop-up linked to BetterBallotsNJ.org which redirected to a page on GGCNJ’s website. The page claims that New Jersey’s primary election ballots are “uniquely and intentionally confusing” and cause voter disenfranchisement “through gerrymandering of the ballot.” GGCNJ claimed its intentions in reforming the ballot design are nonpartisan. It linked to op-eds from the editorial boards of news outlets supporting ballot reform as well as a lawsuit challenging the electoral system undertaken by Abolish the Line, a campaign of the New Jersey Working Families Party. ⁶

GGCNJ hosted the BetterBallotsNJ campaign kickoff featuring speeches from GGCNJ president Yael Niv, executive director of the League of Women Voters of NJ Jesse Burns, congressional candidate for New Jersey’s 2nd district Amy Kennedy, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective Brandon McKoy, president of Latinas United for Political Empowerment (LUPE) Patricia Campos-Medina, president of South Jersey Progressive Democrats and GGCNJ board member Kate Delaney, principal and founder of Urban Matters Advocacy & Action (UMAA Network) Safiyyah Muhammad, congressional candidate in New Jersey’s 5th District Arati Kreibich, state director of New Jersey Working Families Party Sue Altman, and the chair of Our Revolution Essex County and GGCNJ board member Justin Goldsman. ⁷

The partners of the kickoff event included the groups listed above as well as Citizen Action of New Jersey, STAND Central NJ, Hudson County Progressive Alliance, Save Our Schools NJ, Force the Issue NJ, NJ 11^th for Change, Indivisible Cranbury, Fair Ballot Project, March for Our Lives New Jersey, Central Jersey Progressive Democrats, SOMA Action, Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization, and NJ-08 for Progress. ⁸ Most of the groups that sponsored the kickoff are listed among the coalition members of GGCNJ. ⁹

Leaders

Good Government Coalition of New Jersey claims to have been founded by a “group of concerned NJ residents,” to be “strictly non-partisan” and to operate “on a fully volunteer basis.” ¹⁰

Its board of trustees includes coalition president Yael Niv, Julia Sass Rubin, Laura Zurfluh (Partner Groups manager), Justin Goldsman (Legislation), Kate Delany (County committee training), Arati Kreibich (BetterBallotsNJ leader), Patricia Campos-Medina (Media relations), Louis DiPaolo (Media relations), and Mo’Neke Singelton-Ragdsale. ¹¹

1. “Who we are.” Good Government Coalition of New Jersey. GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/supporters/.
2. “Who we are.” Good Government Coalition of New Jersey. GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/supporters/.
3. “Mission.” GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/mission/.
4. ^[1] “Who we are.” Good Government Coalition of New Jersey. GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/supporters/.
5. “Good Government Coalition of New Jersey.” GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230212173008/https://ggcnj.org/.
6. “Better Ballots NJ.” GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/betterballotsnj/.
7. “Better Ballots NJ.” GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/betterballotsnj/.
8. “Better Ballots NJ.” GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/betterballotsnj/.
9. “Who we are.” Good Government Coalition of New Jersey. GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/supporters/.
10. “Who we are.” Good Government Coalition of New Jersey. GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/supporters/.
11. “Better Ballots NJ.” GGCNJ. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://ggcnj.org/betterballotsnj/.