Gluegate trial begins in bid to overturn Morris Township election

A trial to determine whether 42 uncounted provisional ballots in a race for Morris Township Committee began today and will continue Friday after Judge Stuart Minkowitz went home sick.

Peter Mancuso was declared the winner by just 15 votes over Democrat Bud Ravitz after a recount of the November 2019 general election.  Democrats want to see if the 41 uncounted votes will reverse the outcome of the election.

Mancuso, an 82-year-old Republican who has served on and off since 1978, was sworn into another term on January 7.

Earlier this month, Minkowitz had ordered an additional ten vote-by-mail ballots be counted after the Morris County Board of Elections provides a 48-hour notice of their meeting.

A complaint filed by the New Jersey Democratic State Committee and the Morris County Democratic Committee included affidavits from poll workers and eighteen voters stating that the envelope glue would not stick.

Minkowitz ruled that the party organizations have no standing in this case, but their attorneys, Raj Parikh and Scott Salmon, entered appearances on behalf of Ravitz personally.

One voter, whose VBM ballot was invalidated because the signature did not match her application, testified that she had signed both documents and that a health issue likely resulted in similar but not identical signatures.