A state appellate court won’t decide if a trial court judge erred by allowing two candidates on the June primary ballot until at least August 1, throwing the race for Howell Township Council into greater disarray.
A lawsuit filed by a local resident nearly four months ago is challenging a 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.
Appellate Judge Hany A. Mawla decided in April to reject an emergent appeal and allow the primary to continue. He set up a briefing schedule that began on June 10 – three days after the primary – and end on July 21.
The lawsuit could dramatically alter how candidates get on the ballot in New Jersey.
If Sheedy’s decision in upheld, it will 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.
Mawla’s decision to not deal with the appeal before the primary – and a decision to add eleven more days to the calendar by granting a request for the Monmouth County Clerk to submit a brief next week, appears to box the appellate court in. There is no real chance to hold a new primary in time to run another primary before vote-by-mail ballots are sent out on September 24.
It’s not clear if Mawla’s intent was to avoid having to rule on a new primary by letter the clock run out.
Michael Collins, an attorney representing the two candidates, Fred Gasior and Susan Fischer, says the case is “meritless” since his clients won a four-way primary by a 2-1 margin.
Collins said the bid for a do-over primary “is a cynical attempt to benefit the Howell Democrats and create chaos in this November’s general election.”
He said a new primary would include just two candidates on the ballot for three seats, Ian Nadel, who gathered enough signatures, and an off-the-line candidate, Michael Bernstein.
“This structure would all but guarantee Bernstein’s victory in a ‘re-run’ Republican primary and leave the possibility that the Howell Republicans may not have a nominee for one of the three seats,” Collins wrote in his brief. “This would ensure that at least one seat in this November’s election would be defaulted to a Democratic-favored candidate and help Howell Democrats retain ideological control of the governing body. The candidates thus believe that this litigation is intended to effectuate ulterior political motives.”
The plaintiffs claim that the Republican municipal chairman, Joseph DiBella, pushed the municipal clerk to accept the petitions.
In the primary, Fischer (2,721), Nadel (2,643) and Gasior (2,463) defeated Bernstein, who received 966 votes.
A new primary would likely necessitate a write-in campaign.
In court filings, Deputy Attorney General George Cohen said that Mawla’s decision to kick the can down the road will result in the local Republican organization run by Bella will select the general election candidates if the appellate judges decides to invalidate the primary election.
“There is no statutory provision for ordering a ‘new’ Republican primary election if the court deems the nomination of any of the Respondent candidates to be null and void,” Cohen wrote in his brief.
But Cohen, who frequently advocates for the path of least resistance, could be looking too narrowly at a vacancy in the context of a withdrawal from the race and not the invalidation of the primary itself.
In 1976, Superior Court Judge John Marzulli ordered Democrats in New Jersey’s 9th district to rerun a congressional primary on September 21 after finding evidence of voter fraud in a contest between six-term Rep. Henry Helstoski (D-East Rutherford) and three-term Assemblyman Byron Baer (D-Englewood).
Helstoski, who was indicted on federal corruption charges five days before the primary, appeared to have defeated Baer by 106 votes. A challenge to the results, which included evidence that new votes for Helstoski had suddenly emerged in North Bergen and Union City, continued through the summer.
The do-over primary was won by Helstoski – Hudson County voters turned out, but Bergen was light — but the seat went to former State Sen. Harold Hollenbeck (R-East Rutherford) in the general election.