For the second time in a week, a Superior Court judge has intervened to allow a Somerset County woman to vote after county election officials rejected her voter registration because she failed to check boxes on a form, even though she provided the required information elsewhere on the same document.
Superior Court Judge Michael DeLoreto ruled today that the woman could vote in the 2026 midterm election, rejecting a determination by Somerset County Board of Elections Administrator Jerry Midgette that would have prevented her from casting a ballot.
The ruling comes six days after Superior Court Judge William G. Mennen IV allowed another Somerset County woman to vote under nearly identical circumstances.
In that case, an elderly woman who had recently moved to Somerset County submitted her registration before the deadline but inadvertently failed to check two boxes affirming that she was a U.S. citizen and at least 17 years old.
The woman had provided her date of birth elsewhere on the form and signed a declaration affirming both her age and citizenship.
Mennen noted that the registration form requested the same information more than once and determined that the woman’s omissions did not justify denying her the right to vote.
“The form is cured in the eyes of the court, and as a result, this voter should be permitted to vote based upon her stated preference,” Mennen said on October 28. “She will be permitted to vote by machine.”
Despite that decision, Midgette has continued to reject registrations involving unchecked boxes, requiring voters to seek judicial intervention to preserve their voting rights.
Both cases involved voters who had supplied the necessary information on their registration forms but faced the prospect of being turned away because they had not checked particular boxes.
Without going to court, neither woman would have been permitted to vote.
The New Jersey Globe withholds the names of voters who go to court to challenge their disenfranchisement to protect their privacy.