TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey election officials didn’t have the power to simply disregard a state election law they didn’t want to enforce, according to a state appellate ruling that remains intact following a new federal court decision.
Now Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio (R-Warren) wants investigators to find out how the state got there in the first place.
DiMaio is calling on the State Commission of Investigation (SCI) to examine the Division of Elections’ handling of a law requiring petition circulators to be eligible New Jersey voters.
The controversy emerged from the ballot fight involving Libertarian congressional candidate Lana Leguía, who sought to challenge Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. this November.
Secretary of State Dale Caldwell’s office had declined to enforce the circulator requirement despite the statute remaining on the books. The New Jersey Appellate Division subsequently concluded that the executive branch lacked authority to effectively nullify a law that the Legislature had never repealed.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi issued an 18-page decision finding that Leguía had been wronged by state officials, according to DiMaio’s office, but concluded that the federal court could not restore her to the ballot because she lacked standing.
The underlying state appellate ruling nevertheless remains undisturbed.
“This executive overreach is a gross abuse of the separation of powers,” said DiMaio. “This is Civics 101. There is a process in place to change laws, and that is through the Legislative branch, not the arbitrary whims of the Executive.”
Leguía fell short of the signatures necessary to qualify after relying on the Division of Elections’ handling of the circulator rule.
DiMaio argues that the Attorney General’s Office is poorly positioned to investigate what happened because it represented election officials in litigation defending the non-enforcement policy. He instead wants the SCI — an independent investigative agency with subpoena authority — to take up the matter.
“That’s exactly why the Legislature created the State Commission of Investigation — an independent body with subpoena power, outside the AG’s chain of command,” DiMaio said.
The Republican leader also connected the episode to the Sherrill administration’s broader election controversies, including the recent disclosure that thousands of people who identified themselves as noncitizens during Motor Vehicle Commission transactions were nevertheless registered to vote.
DiMaio says the latest case raises a larger question about executive power.
“We learned that state officials apparently told would-be candidates that they didn’t have to follow the law,” he said. “Unfortunately, it begs the question: what other ‘inconvenient’ laws are Democrats ignoring?”
For Leguía, meanwhile, the dispute is no longer academic. She remains off the November ballot.
“Their bad advice, their defying the law, cost this candidate her spot on the ballot,” DiMaio added. “For all the cries we hear about defending democracy, this was truly an injustice to Ms. Leguía, her supporters, all voters, and our constitutional order.”
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