An independent candidate for Hudson County Commissioner won’t be able to get on the ballot after a Superior Court Judge ruled that her failure to obtain the required number of signatures – despite being initially told by the county clerk’s office that she needed a lower number —
Patricia Waiters filed her petition to challenge Ron Bautista for Hudson County Commissioner just sixteen minutes before last week’s filing deadline, submitting 221 signatures. The Hudson County Clerk’s Office rejected the petition because it fell 29 signatures short of the 250 required to qualify for the ballot.
Superior Court Judge David Katz said the court had no legal authority to waive the statutory requirement of 250 signatures and cited evidence showing that Waiters was informed of the correct 250-signature requirement before she began circulating petitions.
“Factually, I do acknowledge there was some unclear communication potentially out of the box, but that was corrected in plenty of time,” said Katz. “Nothing untoward on this record happened other than the fact that the rules were applied, the statute was applied.”
In her testimony, Waiters said she relied on county employees who gave her three different signature totals, creating confusion. She argued that if she had been told 250 signatures, she would have obtained the correct number.
The county counsel, Alberico De Pierro, said that it wasn’t the county clerk’s job to tell a candidate how many signatures they needed.
“They were not required to provide legal advice,” De Pierro said.
Jessica Garcia, who works for the county clerk, admitted that she initially told Waiters she needed 100 signatures, but said she later called her back with a different number. She also testified that providing guidance was not her job. And the election supervisor, Amber Vargas, affirmed that “it’s not the responsibility of the clerk’s office.”
Waiters made an impassioned plea to Katz to allow her on the ballot so voters have a choice against Bautista, who is unopposed in the general election for the District 5 county commissioner seat, saying she wants to “bring real democracy back.”
“Give the people an opportunity to vote for me. I didn’t even win yet,” she said. “I have no money. I have no sponsors. I have no support. I have no endorsements. I have no mayors. I have no senators. I have no congressmen. But the county does.”
Since 2009, Waiters has run for office 18 times: for Hoboken mayor, city council, and school board, and for County Executive and County Commissioner.
Katz’s decision that the court doesn’t have the authority to “waive or relax the requirement of 250 signatures” contradicts a ruling in April by Superior Court Judge Benjamin Telsey in Gloucester County. Telsey removed Paulsboro Councilman Eric Singleton from the ballot in April, after vote-by-mail ballots had already gone out, after finding that he fell two signatures short of the minimum number required under state law.
But Telsey took five weeks to make a final determination on how to proceed; in the meantime, ballots with Singleton’s name on them continued to be cast.
On May 6, Councilman Tahje Thomas chose to withdraw his already-successful lawsuit to toss Singleton after realizing the hornet’s nest that came out of Telsey’s ruling and the high cost that Paulsboro taxpayers would incur.
Telsey, whose sluggishness contributed to the problem, allowed Singleton to remain on the ballot even though he had determined that the candidate had failed to obtain enough signatures. Singleton lost the primary by a wide margin.