A Passaic County judge is being asked to decide whether an independent candidate for a Pompton Lakes council seat should receive extra time to collect signatures after the County Clerk’s office acknowledged that it mistakenly provided candidates with an incorrect petition threshold, potentially jeopardizing a bid for a place on the November general election ballot.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the clerk’s office admitted that a clerical error led election officials to calculate the signature requirement using the number of ballots cast rather than the number of votes cast in the last General Assembly election. The mistake resulted in independent candidate Jennifer Polidori being told she needed 230 signatures to qualify, when opponents contend state law required approximately 428 signatures.
Polidori was a Republican councilwoman until she lost party support for re-election in 2025 and mounted an unsuccessful campaign as an independent. She’s challenging GOP incumbents Ek Venin and Maria Kent. No Democrats filed. A court filing said she filed with 231 valid signatures after
Deputy County Counsel Zaid Qasem told Superior Court Judge Rudolph Filko today that the clerk’s office miscalculated the number, but that may not be accurate.
The calculation for the most recent year of a State Assembly campaign – not the legislative race itself – is based on five percent of the total votes cast. In 2025, that was 4,596; that would bring the required signatures to 230. Qasem’s new calculation is based on votes cast for all Assembly candidates, apparently double-counting voters who vote for Democratic and Republican contenders in a race for two seats. Court filings suggest that 8,551 votes were cast for the four candidates, plus some write-ins, a Hudsonian-type feat considering Pompton Lakes had just 8,833 registered voters for last year’s general election.
Filko, who acknowledged the need for speed so as not to interfere with campaigning — not just the printing of ballots — set an expedited briefing schedule and has the candidates back in court on July 1. He will need to decide what the number is and then determine if he wants strict compliance with election statutes or equitable relief based on Polidori’s reliance on a government error.
If Filko rules in favor of Qasem’s math, he could be opening a hornet’s nest, opening challenges across New Jersey regarding independent municipal candidates who didn’t file enough signatures.