Appellate court will hear Roselle election challenge

The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Courts agreed this morning to hear an appeal in the Roselle Borough Council matter, ordering Union County election officials to hold off printing ballots until after they decide.

The appellate court’s move to take up a challenge initiated by Denise Wilkerson came early this morning and is working with an incredibly short runway, as Vote-by-Mail ballots are due to go in the mail on Saturday.   The courts asked briefs to be filed by 3 PM today and have given the Union County Board of Elections until 10 AM tomorrow to respond.

That could mean a decision as early as tomorrow.  The appellate court put one of its best judges, Jack Sabatino, on the case.

Sabatino, in his 8:30 AM order, limited briefs to ten pages, double-spaced, and will not accept reply submissions.

Wilkerson attempted to file her appeal on Friday afternoon, minutes after Superior Court Judge John Deitch retreated from his own ruling calling for a new Democratic primary and instead ordered the Roselle Democratic County Committee to select a nominee by Sunday.  But the appellate division was closed – Deitch waited over an hour to file his opinion (he had previously handed a written opinion to one, but not all, parties) until after the court shut down for the weekend.

The appellate court ghosted Wilkerson until this morning.

In a 20-7 vote, Roselle Democrats picked Cynthia Johnson, who lost the primary to Wilkerson by two votes, as the general election candidate.

Deitch took over three months to handle the election matter.