Bill Text: NJ A1775 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Invalidates any nominating petition filed after deadline therefor; voids any attempt by candidate to petition court to accept validity of petition filed after deadline.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State Government Committee [A1775 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A1775-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
215th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2012 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman SCOTT RUDDER
District 8 (Atlantic, Burlington and Camden)
SYNOPSIS
Invalidates any nominating petition filed after deadline therefore; voids any attempt by candidate to petition court to accept validity of petition filed after deadline.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning the filing of petitions of nomination and amending various parts of the statutory law.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.19:13-9 is amended to read as follows:
19:13-9. All such petitions and acceptances thereof shall be filed with the officer or officers to whom they are addressed before 4:00 p.m. of the day of the holding of the primary election for the general election in this Title provided. Any petition or acceptance filed after that time shall be invalid and any attempt by a candidate to petition a court of competent jurisdiction to accept the validity of a petition or acceptance filed after that time pursuant to R.S.19:13-12 or any other section of the statutory law shall be void. All petitions when filed shall be open under proper regulations for public inspection.
Notwithstanding the above provision, all petitions and acceptances thereof nominating electors of candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, which candidates have not been nominated at a convention of a political party as defined by this Title, shall be filed with the Secretary of State before 4:00 p.m. of the 99th day preceding the general election in this Title provided. All petitions when filed shall be opened under proper regulations for public inspection.
The officer or officers shall transmit to the Election Law Enforcement Commission the names of all candidates, other than candidates for federal office, nominated by petition and any other information required by the commission in the form and manner prescribed by the commission and shall notify the commission immediately upon the withdrawal of a petition of nomination.
Nothing in this section shall abridge the right of a candidate to amend a petition or acceptance to correct a defect, pursuant to current law.
(cf: P.L.1998, c.147, s.2)
2. R.S.19:23-14 is amended to read as follows:
19:23-14. Petitions addressed to the Attorney General, the county clerks, or the municipal clerks shall be filed with such officers, respectively, before 4:00 p.m. of the 57th day next preceding the day of the holding of the primary election for the general election. Any petition filed after that time shall be invalid and any attempt by a candidate to petition a court of competent jurisdiction to accept the validity of a petition filed after that time pursuant to R.S.19:13-12 or any other section of the statutory law shall be void.
Not later than the close of business of the 48th day preceding the primary election for the general election, the municipal clerk shall certify to the county clerk the full and correct names and addresses of all candidates for nomination for public and party office and the name of the political party of which such persons are candidates together with their slogan and designation. The county clerk shall transmit this information to the Election Law Enforcement Commission in the form and manner prescribed by the commission and shall notify the commission immediately upon the withdrawal of a petition of nomination.
Nothing in this section shall abridge the right of a candidate to amend a petition to correct a defect, pursuant to current law.
(cf: P.L.2001, c.211, s.1)
3. Section 7 of P.L.1995, c.278 (C.19:60-7) is amended to read to follows:
7. Each candidate to be voted upon at a school election shall be nominated directly by petition, and the procedures for such nomination shall, to the extent not inconsistent with the provisions of P.L.1995, c.278 (C.19:60-1 et al.), conform to the procedure for nominating candidates by direct petition under chapter 13 of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes. Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S.19:13-5, however, a petition of nomination for such office shall be signed by at least 10 persons, one of whom may be the candidate, and filed with the secretary of the board of education on or before four p.m. of the 50th day preceding the date of the school election. Any petition filed after that time shall be invalid and any attempt by a candidate to petition a court of competent jurisdiction to accept the validity of a petition filed after that time pursuant to R.S.19:13-12 or any other section of the statutory law shall be void. The signatures need not all appear upon a single petition and any number of petitions may be filed on behalf of any candidate but no petition shall contain the endorsement of more than one candidate. Nothing in this paragraph shall abridge the right of a candidate to amend a petition to correct a defect, pursuant to current law.
Any candidate may withdraw as a candidate in a school election by filing a notice in writing, signed by the candidate, of such withdrawal with the secretary of the board of education before the 44th day before the date of the election, and thereupon the name of that candidate shall be withdrawn by the secretary of the board of education and shall not be printed on the ballot.
A vacancy created by a declination of nomination or withdrawal by, or death of, a nominee, or in any other manner, shall be ineligible to be filled under the provisions of R.S.19:13-19 or otherwise.
Whenever written objection to a petition of nomination hereunder shall have been made and timely filed with the secretary of the board of education, the board of education shall file its determination of the objection on or before the 44th day preceding the school election. The last day upon which a candidate may file with the Superior Court a verified complaint setting forth any invasion or threatened invasion of the candidate's rights under the candidate's petition of nomination shall be the 46th day before the election. The last day upon which a candidate whose petition of nomination or any affidavit thereto is defective may amend such petition or affidavit shall be the 44th day before the election.
(cf: P.L.2000, c.22, s.1)
4. Section 4 of P.L.1981, c.379 (C.40:45-8) is amended to read as follows:
4. [On or before] Before 4:00 p.m. of the 54th day prior to a regular municipal election, the names of candidates for all elective offices shall be filed with the municipal clerk, in the following manner and form and subject to the following conditions:
a. The petition of nomination shall consist of individual certificates, equal in number to at least 1%, but in no event less than 25, of the registered voters of the municipality or the ward, as the case may be, and shall read substantially as follows:
"I, the undersigned, a registered voter of the municipality of .............., residing at ..................................... certify that I do hereby join in a petition of the nomination of .................................. whose residence is at .................................................. for the office of mayor (or councilman-at-large, or ward councilman of the ............ ward, or commissioner, or village trustee, as the case may be) to be voted for at the election to be held in the municipality on the ............, 19......., and I further certify that I know this candidate to be a registered voter, for the period required by law, of the municipality (and the ward, in the case of ward councilman) and a person of good moral character, and qualified, in my judgment, to perform the duties of the office, and I further certify that I have not signed more petitions or certificates of nomination than there are places to be filled for the above office.
Signed ......................................................... ."
Any such petition of nomination which is provided to candidates by the municipal clerk shall contain the following notice: "Notice: All candidates are required by law to comply with the provisions of the "New Jersey Campaign Contributions and Expenditures Reporting Act." For further information, please call (insert phone number of the Election Law Enforcement Commission)."
Any petition filed after 4:00 p.m. of the 54th day prior to a regular municipal election shall be invalid and any attempt by a candidate to petition a court of competent jurisdiction to accept the validity of a petition filed after that time pursuant to R.S.19:13-12 or any other section of the statutory law shall be void.
b. Each petition signature shall be on a separate sheet of paper and shall bear the name and address of the petitioner. The candidate for office and his campaign manager shall make an oath before an officer competent to administer oaths that the statements made therein are true, and that each signature to the papers appended thereto is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, to their best knowledge and belief. The oath, signed by the candidate, shall constitute his acceptance of nomination and shall be annexed to the petition, together with the oath of his campaign manager, at the time the petition is submitted.
c. The municipal clerk shall immediately provide the Election Law Enforcement Commission with official certification of the filing or withdrawal of a petition of nomination.
Nothing in this paragraph shall abridge the right of a candidate to amend a petition to correct a defect, pursuant to current law.
(cf: P.L.1985, c. 92, s. 34)
5. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that any petition of nomination that is filed after the deadline for such a filing will be invalid and any attempt by a candidate to petition a court of competent jurisdiction to accept the validity of a petition filed after that deadline pursuant to any section of the statutory law will be void.
The bill also establishes 4:00 p.m. as the latest time for filing petitions of nomination for candidates seeking election at a regular municipal election. Current law establishes the 54th day prior to the day of the regular municipal election as the last day for filing such petitions, but does not prescribe a deadline time.
Under current law, a petition of nomination for candidates seeking nomination for election in a primary election must be filed no later than 4:00 p.m. of the 57th day prior to the day of the primary election. For a candidate seeking a place on the ballot as a candidate for member of a school board in a Type II school district, the deadline is 4:00 p.m. of the 50th day preceding the date of the school election.
If this bill is enacted, a person who misses the filing deadline to appear on the ballot could be elected to public office only by voters who vote by writing in the name of the candidate of their choice.
