TRENTON, N.J. — A bill sponsored by New Jersey Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25) would create a vacancy every time an elected official switches parties while in office.
“When a person who has been elected to public office, or appointed to fill a vacancy in an elective public office ceases, during the term of that office, to be a member of the political party of which that person was a member at the time of election or appointment, such change in political party shall be deemed to make vacant the office to which that official was elected or appointed,” reads the language of the bill. “The vacancy shall take effect upon declaration of the change in political party, and the elected or appointed official, as appropriate, shall immediately relinquish the office and the vacancy shall be filled as provided by law.”
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The practical result (if this legislation was ever adopted) would be a vacancy filled by committee members of the (original) party of the vacating official followed thereafter by a special election.
A-5165 has little chance of passage in the Democrat-controlled state legislature, particularly because it’s a transparent direct response to the January 2018 decision by State Senator Dawn Addiego (D-8) to switch from the GOP to the Democrat side of the aisle:
https://twitter.com/MattFriedmanNJ/status/1105875037373059072
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