Attorney in Atlantic City election challenge says witnesses evading service, not showing up in court

In an Atlantic City election challenge, an attorney for a candidate who lost the Democratic primary by six votes says a large number of witnesses are evading service or ignoring subpoenas, including six who live in the home of the incumbent city councilwoman, LaToya Dunston.

Viana Bailey, who is seeking to overturn the June Democratic primary in Atlantic City’s 2nd Ward, alleges that some voters improperly received assistance at the polls.  Veteran vote harvester Craig Callaway was mentioned repeatedly in Bailey’s complaint.

Her attorney, Richard Birch, told Superior Court Judge Michael Blee that out of 61 subpoenas issued by his firm, only 30 were served – and of the 30, just 10 people showed up in court earlier this week.

“Of those 31 that were not served, a lot of them go directly to the people that were listed in our complaint of the residency with the residency issue,” Birch said.

An additional fourteen voters were added to an amended complaint; Birch said 3 were served, and none showed up in court.

“One person, I believe, based on our records, has passed away,” stated Birch.  “So, you know, we will obviously not be calling that person.”

According to Birch, six of the unserved witnesses live with Dunston.

“Our process server has indicated that they are evading service,” said Birch.  “We believe that they actually don’t live at that residence.”

Dunston’s attorney, Matthew Moench, said he was not authorized to accept service on their behalf since he doesn’t represent those voters.

Days before the election, Blee permanently barred Callaway, a former Atlantic City council president, from acting as election assistor after Democrats showed that Callaway himself had signed a form saying he needed his own assistance in voting due to a disability.   He also enjoined Callaway from directing anyone else to be an assistor.

“I don’t represent Mr. Calloway,” Moench said.  “I know that plaintiff likes to put his name in as often as possible into the conversation.  But I would object to the idea that we have one witness who came in and said that, you know, somebody filled out their ballot.  There has been no testimony whatsoever regarding who filled out that ballot or what the significance of that is.”

Blee set a briefing schedule, with the trial set to resume on December 12.

Dunston was unopposed in the general election and is expected to be sworn into office for another term in January, unless the primary is overturned.