The sluggish state appellate court has set oral arguments for a challenge to nominating petitions for the Howell Township Council filed in April for the June primary election to September 12.
With the mailing of general election ballots set to begin on September 24, there is no realistic opportunity for the lawsuit filed by local resident John Hughes more than four months ago to trigger a new Republican primary.
Hughes has challenged an April ruling by Superior Court Judge Kathleen Sheedy that allowed two Republicans who failed to get enough signatures – just 50 — to merge their petitions with a third candidate to get on the June 7 primary ballot.
The appeal was filed on an emergent basis after Sheedy’s decision and Appellate Court Judge Hany A. Mawla initially stayed the decision to let the two GOP candidates, Fred Gasior and Susan Fischer, on the ballot. Soon after, Hawla inexplicably reversed the stay and scheduled a briefing schedule to commence three days after the primary and end on August 1.
According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, no assignment of appellate judges has been made to the Howell case. It’s not immediately clear if any of the briefs filed since the deadline eighteen days ago have been read by any judges. Oral arguments had been requested in July.
If Sheedy’s decision stands, this radically alter how candidates get on the ballot in New Jersey. It would essentially set aside requirements that candidates get a minimum number of petition signatures in order to have their name appear on the ballot. It could permit petitions to be circulated without the name of a candidate.
Gasior and Fischer, who got on the ballot after retroactively piggybacking their petitions with a running mate, Ian Nadel, won the primary election by a 2-1 margin against an off-the-line challenger Michael Bernstein.
The Sheedy decision allowed Gasior and Fischer to run on the line instead of forcing them to compete as write-in candidates.
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