Judge removes Pompton Lakes independent from ballot

A Passaic County Superior Court judge has removed an independent Pompton Lakes Borough Council candidate from the November ballot, ruling that New Jersey election law does not allow candidates to collect additional petition signatures after the filing deadline — even when a county clerk’s office provided incorrect information about the signature requirement.

In a 13-page opinion issued Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Rudolph Filko denied the Passaic County Clerk’s request to give Jennifer Polidori five additional days to gather signatures and granted a challenge brought by Republican candidates Michael Serra, Maria Petix-Kent, and Ekamon Venin.

The ruling declares Polidori’s nominating petition insufficient and prevents her name from appearing on the November 3 general election ballot.

The case stemmed from an admitted clerical error by the Passaic County Clerk’s Office. Staff mistakenly advised prospective candidates that they needed 230 signatures to qualify for the ballot, when state law required 250 based on turnout in the last General Assembly election.

Polidori, a former Republican councilwoman, submitted a petition containing 250 signature lines, but after objections were reviewed, election officials determined that only 233 signatures were valid after eliminating duplicates, non-registered voters, signers who had also signed competing petitions, and one blank line.

The County Clerk asked the court to allow Polidori to collect additional signatures, arguing that candidates had relied on the office’s erroneous guidance.

Filko rejected that request, finding that Title 19 expressly prohibits adding signatures after the filing deadline and that courts cannot use equitable powers to override clear statutory language.

“However sympathetic the circumstances may be, a court of equity may not supply a remedy the Legislature expressly withheld,” Filko stated. “The statutory signature requirement was fixed by the Legislature, not by the filing officer.”

Filko also found that Polidori did not show she had relied on the clerk’s incorrect advice.  He noted that she did not submit firsthand testimony about what she had been told, and pointed out that the state’s petition forms warned candidates that the signature requirements would change in 2025 and instructed them to verify the new requirements before filing.

“What is missing is competent, first-hand proof from Ms. Polidori herself,” he wrote.

Because Polidori fell 17 valid signatures short of the legal requirement, Filko ruled that she had no authority to collect additional signatures after the filing deadline, despite the County Clerk’s admitted mistake.

Filko grew up in a home where election law was taken seriously: his late father, Rudolph G. Filko, was the Passaic County Superintendent of Elections and the GOP municipal chairman in West Paterson (now Woodland Park) for fourteen years.