Somerset County Clerk Steve Peter made statewide news (including on Save Jersey) and national news during the 2020 primary when he mailed hundreds of Republican primary voters Democrat primary ballots in the all-mail-in-ballot primary. If it weren’t for the quick and decisive action of Bernardsville GOP Chair Karen Gardner, the voters receiving incorrect ballots would have been unable to exercise their right to vote in the primary.
Thankfully disaster was avoided when Gardner forced the issue on the reluctant Peters, who initially gaslighted Gardner, then subsequently relented and mailed voters the correct ballots. The County Clerk publicly blamed the fiasco on his printer. We’ll re-visit that little detail later.
Assuming no printing mishaps occur again this year, Steve Peter himself is on the ballot on November 8. He needs to be held accountable for disenfranchising voters.
In two other recent cases, similar county clerk misconduct caused expensive special elections, and it cost one of those two county clerks his job.
Here’s the history:
In 2020, I represented Andrew Parker, who appeared to have lost the Atlantic County Second District Freeholder election. The problem was that Atlantic County Clerk Jim McGettigan had disenfranchised 554 voters when he mailed them the wrong ballots ballots. We filed an election contest and the Superior Court overturned the election result. The following November Mr. Parker won with 61 per cent of the vote; however, the Second District was unrepresented for 11 months.
After a withering attack based on the ballot fiasco, McGettigan chose not to run for re-election.
In 2021, 33 voters in Old Bridge’s Fourth Ward were mailed the wrong ballots. Fourth Ward Republican nominee Mark Razzoli trailed the Dem by 11 votes when all the votes were counted. We filed an election contest and the trial court overturned the election result, based in part on the precedent of the Parker case. The result was a special election three months later, at taxpayer expense.
Somerset County taxpayers dodged a bullet in 2020. There was a very close Republican primary for U.S. Senate. One of the losing candidates was a very litigious perennial candidate. The Somerset County Clerk’s disenfranchisement of over 500 voters could have triggered a statewide legal action and potentially an expensive statewide re-vote.
Let’s return to the printing company that Clerk Peter blamed for the ballot fiasco – one might think that for such an extensive mistake that no further business would be conducted with that company. That’s what taking responsibility is all about, right? Not just words, but actions?
In the words of Paulie Walnuts of Sopranos’ fame, the printer was covered by his donations. The company’s principal is a generous supporter of Democrat causes. In 2022, the Somerset County Dems rewarded the company with a new vote-by-mail ballot contract. Responsibility entails more than just words in an article, but action.
The voters can hold the Somerset County Clerk responsible for disenfranchising Bernardsville Republican primary voters. He deserves the same fate that the political universe doled out to McGettigan. He needs to be voted out of office. Suzanne Maeder has the character to lead and the competence to deliver fair and open elections to Somerset County. She should be the next Somerset County Clerk.
_
Tim Howes, Esquire is a New Jersey attorney and chairman of the Somerset County Republican Organization (SCRO).
