An independent candidate for State Assembly in the 11th district has been tossed from the ballot after a judge found that he fell short of the fifty signatures needed to qualify.
Neshawn Vazquez, a 21-year-old Eatontown resident, withdrew his candidacy after Administrative Law Judge Edward Delanoy found that three of the 52 signatures of his nominating petitions had come from unregistered voters.
Attorneys from both parties had challenged Vazquez’s petitions: Jason Sena for the New Jersey Republican State Committee, and Democratic attorney Bill Northgrave.
That leaves four candidates on the ballot: Assemblywomen Marilyn Piperno (R-Colts Neck) and Kim Eulner (R-Shrewsbury), and their Democratic challengers, Ocean Township Councilwoman Margie Donlon and former Municipal Court Judge Luanne Peterpaul.
Vazquez hinted that he will continue his Assembly bid as a write-in candidate.
“I can still campaign, I just won’t be on the ballot,” he said.
The only independent to win election to the legislature in New Jersey history was Anthony Imperiale (I-Newark), who captured a State Assembly seat in 1971 and a State Senate seat in 1973.
But independents can sometimes serve as spoilers.
In 2021, Green Party candidate Dominique Faison received 1,152 votes in the 11th district Assembly race. Incumbent JoAnn Downey (D-Freehold) finished 347 votes behind Eulner and Eric Houghtaling, another incumbent, came in 275 votes behind Downey and 781 behind Piperno.
Perennial candidates Karen Zaletel, a conservative and GOP county committeewoman in Eatontown who has run for office ten times since 1996 as a Republican and independent, filed as the NJ Patriot Party candidate for State Senate in the 11th. She will face State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch) and Republican Steve Dnistrian.
Because this is the first legislative election under the new map, several candidates took advantage of a 1948 law that requires just 50 signatures on petitions to get on the ballot as an independent.