Over the course of a nearly six-hour proceeding today, lawyers for two candidates in the 10th congressional district, Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver and former East Orange Councilwoman Brittany Claybrooks, made their cases to an administrative law judge over whether McIver should be allowed on the special election primary ballot.
McIver submitted nominating petitions with 1,081 signatures, well over the 200-signature requirement for ballot access. But every single one of those petitions shared the same circulator – McIver’s mother, Robin McIver – which Claybrooks claimed would be nearly impossible in the single weekend McIver spent gathering signatures.
If Robin McIver did not in fact witness each signature as she claims to have done, Claybrooks argued, that would make the entire petition package fraudulent and warrant removing LaMonica McIver from the ballot.
Administrative Law Judge Kim Belin did not issue a ruling today, and requested that lawyers for both sides submit brief versions of their arguments by tomorrow morning. The deadline for a decision is next Monday at noon, when Secretary of State Tahesha Way must submit the certified list of candidates to the 10th district’s county clerks – but Way would likely want Belin to issue a ruling sooner than that, so that she can review the decision herself.
The crux of the evidence from Claybrooks’ side was testimony from Claybrooks herself and from another 10th district candidate, Linden Mayor Derek Armstead, on their own petition gathering processes.
Claybrooks and Armstead both said they utilized multiple circulators and gathered petitions for several days straight, and still came out with fewer signatures than McIver: 352 for Claybrooks, 810 for Armstead. Robin McIver being able to single-handedly collect more than that in one weekend is improbable, argued Claybrooks’ attorney Matt Moench.
“The idea that one person got [1,081] signatures over the course of Friday evening to Monday afternoon just defies credibility, especially when coupled with the instances throughout these petitions which are replete with concerns about the accuracy, the veracity, and the truthfulness of the people who have signed the petition,” Moench said.
But McIver’s attorneys, Harry Clewell and Angelo Genova, said Moench’s argument relied almost entirely on speculation about Robin McIver’s signature-collecting abilities that had no basis in fact. Removing LaMonica McIver from the ballot based on conjecture from two of her political opponents, they said, would be a major injustice.
“It’s [Moench’s] burden to prove his case,” Genova said. “And what did we hear? We hear from two people that are running against my candidate who talked about their own experience and who admitted they had no personal knowledge of how the petition was put together. No evidence that the circulator in this case committed any fraud. No evidence that she did not spend the time securing the signatures.”
After all, Genova noted, Robin McIver could have gathered many of the signatures at a large event filled with local Democrats, which would have substantially shortened the amount of time needed to fill out the petitions.
Neither Robin nor LaMonica McIver themselves were present at the virtual hearing, meaning that there was no opportunity to question them about their signature-collecting process.
If Belin does ultimately choose to boot McIver off the ballot, it would be a massive upheaval in the race for the 10th congressional district, which was held by Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) until his death last month. McIver has the support of county party organizations in two of the district’s three counties, and is considered the race’s early frontrunner; her hypothetical removal would upend the race and force the local Democratic establishment to find a new standard-bearer among the remaining ten candidates.
But even if Belin does choose to remove McIver from the ballot, the final decision lies with the Secretary of State, who could put McIver back if she sees fit.
Claybrooks, meanwhile, is facing a challenge to her own petitions brought by the New Jersey Democratic State Committee (NJDSC). That challenge, which is before Administrative Law Judge Susana Guerrero, started yesterday afternoon, continued this morning, and remains ongoing.
Thus far, Guerrero has rejected 65 of Claybrooks’ 352 signatures. Attorney Raj Parikh, who is representing the NJDSC in their challenge, acknowledged that he won’t be able to disqualify 88 more, but alleged there is clear evidence of fraud and forgeries that ought to warrant full sections of the petitions being removed. That would bring Claybrooks below the 200 she needs to be certified as a candidate.