Three candidates for the Hopewell Township Charter Study Commission have filed a lawsuit seeking to remove a rival five-member slate from the November general election ballot, alleging that their nominating petitions contain false circulator affidavits and improper notarizations.
Michael Markulec, Vanessa Sandom and Stephen Klopfer filed the lawsuit in Mercer County Superior Court against Christopher Pazdan, Joshua Wilson, Melanie Walter, Francis Guenther and Grace Rarich. Hopewell Township Clerk Katherine Fenton-Newman and the Mercer County Clerk are also named as defendants.
The plaintiffs are members of the nonpartisan “Chart New Course” slate with Chad Goerner and Tamera Matteo. The lawsuit says Deputy Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning, a former Hopewell mayor, organized the opposing slate.
“This case is about fraud. Not inferential fraud. Not technical non-compliance,” their attorney said in the verified complaint. “Fraud that is provable from the face of the documents and the mouths of witnesses.”
Manning-Peters called the lawsuit “outrageous.”
“Every single signature was a real voter who kneww who they were signing for,” she told the New Jersey Globe.
The lawsuit alleges that a single sheet containing approximately ten voter signatures appears in the petition packets of at least four opposing candidates, but is covered by affidavits from different circulators claiming they personally witnessed the signatures.
One signer, Jim Burd, allegedly told members of the Chart New Course slate that Rarich, his neighbor, collected his signature. The lawsuit says Peters-Manning claimed in Guenther’s petition packet that she witnessed the signatures, while Michael Wilson made the same assertion in his son Joshua Wilson’s packet.
“Courtney Peters-Manning swore she witnessed those signatures in the Guenther set. She did not,” the lawyer said in a brief supporting the lawsuit. “Michael Wilson swore he witnessed those signatures in the Wilson set. He did not.”
The challengers contend that once Peters-Manning’s affidavit is invalidated, Guenther would fall below the 100 valid signatures required to qualify for the ballot.
The complaint also challenges notarizations performed by Fenton-Newman, alleging that none included her commission expiration date or an official stamp or seal. It further alleges, based on information and belief, that some circulators may not have personally appeared before the clerk.
Fenton-Newman served as the notary, petition reviewer, candidate certifier and official conducting the ballot-position drawing, the lawsuit says.
The rival slate submitted its petitions near the close of business on August 20. Fenton-Newman certified all five candidates by early afternoon the next day and conducted the ballot drawing at 4:30 p.m.
Copies of the petitions were not provided to the challengers until 5:35 p.m., after the certifications and drawing had been completed, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit also says Fenton-Newman told the plaintiffs that she used artificial-intelligence software to identify duplicate signatures. The challengers say she did not identify the software or disclose how she verified its results.
Fenton-Newman acknowledged in response to a public records request that she “had to pull the petitions apart and some got scattered,” according to the lawsuit. The challengers argue that the disassembly makes it difficult to determine which circulator affidavits belong to which signature sheets.
The allegations have not been adjudicated, and the defendants had not filed responses in the court documents reviewed by the New Jersey Globe.
Superior Court Judge William Anklowitz has set an expedited schedule because ballots are due to be prepared for printing on August 31.
An in-person trial is set for September 2 at the Mercer County Civil Courthouse in Trenton.
Anklowitz has not removed any candidates or granted temporary restraints. The plaintiffs submitted the proposed orders seeking those remedies, and the court has not entered them.
This story was updated on August 27 at 2:39 PM with comment from Manning-Peters.