In Hudson, Independent seeks reversal of petition rejection

A perennial office seeker from Hoboken is asking a judge to accept late signatures on her nominating petition after alleging that election officials told her the wrong number of signatures she needed to get on the general election ballot as an independent.

Patricia Waiters filed a petition to run for Hudson County Commissioner against Democrat Ron Bautista sixteen minutes before last week’s filing deadline with 221 signatures; the county clerk’s office rejected her petition because she fell short of the 250 required to get on the ballot.

Waiters alleged that a county clerk’s office employee told her by phone she needed 100 signatures.  She claims County Commissioner Anthony “Stick” Romano.

After a 30-minute scheduling conference today, Superior Court Judge David Katz scheduled a court hearing on June 22.  He picked that date after asking County Clerk Junior Maldonado about ballot drawing, design, and printing deadlines.

“It’s possible people could get wrong information,” Katz said.  “What is the remedy for that?

Bautista was unopposed in last week’s Democratic primary for the 5th District seat being vacated by Romano.

“This guy is backed up by bigwigs,” Waiters stated.  Bautista twice challenged Romano, the organization candidate, in Democratic primaries in 2020 and 2023.  This year, Bautista had the backing of Hudson County Democrats as part of a peace accord between factions.

Waiters has run for office 18 times since 2009 for Hoboken mayor, city council, and school board, and for County Executive and County Commissioner.