Judge to tackle legality of out-of-state petition circulators for third-party nominations

An administrative law judge will determine Wednesday whether Libertarian Lana Leguía can stay on the ballot in New Jersey’s 7th congressional district after the majority of her petition signatures were collected by non-residents of New Jersey. 

Leguía is challenging a statute that requires petition circulators for third-party candidates to be residents of New Jersey. A similar but distinct statute for primary elections — really only relevant for Democrats and Republicans — has repeatedly been struck down on First Amendment grounds.

Now, Leguía argues the third-party statute should be struck down as well. Her attorney, Joseph Fortunato, pointed to the Arsenault case, saying the free-speech considerations that apply to that case must also apply to independents and third-party candidates seeking ballot access.

“Arsenault analyzed the political speech of the petition circulators themselves and has ruled that that is political speech, the most protected kind of speech,” he said. “The speech which deserves the strictest of scrutiny, because it involves a core constitutional right.”

Jason Sena, an attorney for the New Jersey GOP, said the Arsenault case applies only to partisan nominating petitions, not direct nominating petitions, and said the Legislature deemed that it’s in the state’s interest “for residents to control the petition process.”

“The statute which governs this proceeding remains good law,” Sena said. “There’s not a single precedential decision that supports the position raised by my adversary.”

Administrative Law Judge William Courtney said the sides must submit briefs on Wednesday morning and said he would rule on the matter tomorrow. If he deems the out-of-state circulators to be ineligible, Leguía will be stricken from the ballot.

The 7th congressional district is expected to host one of the country’s most competitive elections this fall as Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) faces Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett. Three other candidates filed to run, and Leguía, a Libertarian, could take vital votes from Kean.

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Dale Caldwell ruled that out-of-state circulators are allowed for primary nominations as long as the circulator is a member of the party they are advocating for.