In the latest unexplainable move by a judge over an election matter, a court fight to recount the Caldwell Township Council race, where just four votes separate two candidates, has been pushed off until February by the state appellate court.
The appeal comes after Superior Court Judge Robert Gardner rejected a request for a recount, a somewhat commonplace request in an extraordinarily close race where a candidate trails by just one-tenth of one percent.
Democrat Vivian Rodeffer defeated Republican Matt Giermanski, 928-924 (24.92% to 23.82%), with another Republican, Nicholas Correale, not far behind with 918. Democrat Kenneth Jurgenson was the top vote-getter with 953.
But Appellate Court Chief Judge Thomas Sumners, Jr. rejected a request by the Republican attorney, William Pandos, to expedite a hearing on the appeal by December 28 so that a recount could be conducted before the Caldwell governing body reorganizes next week.
The New Jersey Courts are closed this week for the holidays.
That means Rodeffer will be sworn in, and Giermanski will wait for an accelerated court hearing on February 6. It’s unclear how long the appellate judges will take to issue a ruling once they’ve heard the case.
Sumners defended the court’s sluggishness by suggesting that Rodeffer’s swearing-in would create a no-harm, no-foul situation since they could always just toss her in a few months.
“Appellants have not demonstrated that reversal of the trial court’s order must be done before the candidates-elect is sworn in early January 2024,” Sumners wrote in his order. “Our courts have the authority to revoke a certificate of election and remove an incumbent from office.”
According to Sumners, Gardner would simply revoke Rodeffer’s certification of election if the recount were to change the election results and then order one issued to Giermanski.
Republicans have also filed an election contest scheduled to be heard by Judge Ricky Sules on January 3. That puts two court challenges on separate tracks.
The GOP alleges that twelve vote-by-mail ballots were cast by voters who no longer reside in Caldwell and that two voters were wrongfully rejected.
Gardner’s decision to deny a recount in a four-vote race was surprising. This year, other judges across the state approved recounts in contests that were not as close.
Before he was nominated a Superior Court judge in 2008, Gardner spent four years as the executive director of the Essex County Republican Committee during a time when several recounts were filed in races where the margin was more than one-tenth of one percent.