UPDATE: Superior Court Judge B. Theodore Bozonelis decided not to expedite the case, said Stephen Cuyler, the lawyer who filed the suit and a longtime friend of Daggett’s. This prevents any remedy being introduced prior to this November’s election, but allows for the suit to proceed with the hope of protecting voter rights in future elections.

PISCATAWAY— Saying the current system of ballot placement unfairly favors the traditional two major parties, Chris Daggett has joined voters in challenging the election law as discriminatory and unconstitutional.

“This is just another example of how Republicans and Democrats have conspired to thwart the democratic process in New Jersey,’’ Daggett said. “They do not want to open up the electoral process because it would jeopardize their hold on power and continue their two-party stranglehold on government.’’

Under the current system, the two major political parties have been given preferential treatment, and lots are drawn by each county clerk to determine which of the first two columns the Republican and Democratic candidates will be listed on the respective county ballots for the general election. The name of the party first drawn occupies the first column at the left of the ballot, followed by the other party in the column immediately to its right.

For all other candidates, separate lots are drawn to determine where they will be placed in the remaining columns. If there are more candidates than columns, candidates are grouped together even when they are not running on the same ticket. This process results in viable challengers on the ballot being placed far from where a voter’s vision initially focuses, and often causes confusion for voters. The practice gives Republicans and Democrats unfair advantage due to the “primacy effect,’’ which refers to the fact that people tend to choose the first candidate on a ballot or the first thing in a list.

Numerous electoral studies have documented that candidates placed first on the ballot received on average 2.5 percent more of the vote than those listed later as a result, a variation especially critical in close elections.

In the instance where there are more candidates than ballot columns, candidates not affiliated with the two major parties are placed at even greater disadvantage because the ballot is not clear about which office each candidate is seeking. For instance, Cape May’s sample ballot places Daggett one row beneath Christie and Corzine and three columns to the right of the Democratic incumbent.

The lawsuit, filed pro bono by the law firm of Cuyler Burk, P.C. in Parsippany, asserts that the present system violates both the New Jersey and U.S. constitution and seeks an injunction preventing use of ballots drawn under the current system. It also asks the court to order the ballots to be re-drawn in a random way where order is rotated from voting precinct to precinct to eliminate the “primacy effect.’’

“It’s not necessarily fair,’’ said Scott Olson, a Byram councilman and a party to the suit. “It’s very difficult for an independent to get a fair shake.’’

The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court in Morris County on behalf of five registered voters, Daggett, Kenneth Kaplan, Libertarian Party candidate for Governor..