Vincent Matrisciano, an independent candidate for New Jersey’s 11th congressional who made his own nominating petitions rather than using the template provided by the state, should be allowed to remain on the ballot, an Administrative Law Judge ruled today.
Matrisciano filed to run for the district under the banner “Common Sense Independent” with 282 signatures, 32 more than he needed. Unusually, though, the signatures were written on a pared-down petition sheet of Matrisciano’s own design; a first-time candidate for office, Matrisciano said he could not find the standard petition template, which is available on the Division of Elections website.
That drew a challenge from Kean MacLelland, the campaign manager for 11th district GOP nominee Joe Hathaway. MacLelland did not take issue with any of the signatures themselves, instead saying that the entire petition was defective because it did not include all of the information and certifications found on a traditional petition sheet.
“He failed to meet the required statutory elements that make a petition a petition,” said Matt Moench, MacLelland’s attorney. “Some of them might be ticky-tack kind of things, where if we were only here because it doesn’t comply with 19:13-4 – that it’s not addressed to the Secretary of State – we probably wouldn’t have filed the challenge. But here, the deficiencies go to the heart of what a petition is.”
Administrative Law Judge Catherine Tuohy, however, was swayed by Matrisciano’s argument that procedural flaws with his petitions should not nullify the fact that he did, in fact, collect more than 250 signatures from 11th district voters who attested that they want him to appear on the general election ballot.
“I don’t see anything saying that his failure to comply with the forms that are required should result in him not making the ballot, if there’s no underlying challenge to the individuals that signed his petition,” Tuohy said.
Tuohy says she will put out a written decision by tomorrow, and MacLelland indicated that he may pursue an appeal once it’s released.
“We believe that there is conflict with New Jersey state statute, and we will certainly be exercising all of our appeal opportunities if we see fit,” MacLelland said.
The 11th district is solidly Democratic; Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-Glen Ridge) defeated Hathaway by a 60% to 39% margin in an April special election for the seat.
