This will rearrange the columns items end up in, but it may come with some quirks for narrow screens:
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
var columns = $('#[% QuestionName() %]_div .response_column');
var items = $('input[name="hid_list_[% QuestionName() %]"]').val().split(',');
for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
$(columns).eq(i % columns.length).append($('#[% QuestionName() %]_' + items[i]).closest('.clickable'));
}
})
</script>