NJ-12: Sue Altman (D) to stay on ballot after petition challenges fall short
A trio of petition challenges against Sue Altman have fallen short, allowing Altman to remain on the ballot and keeping the wide-open Democratic primary for the 12th congressional district on track.
Altman, a progressive activist and former top staffer to Senator Andy Kim, filed to run for the Central Jersey district with 1,022 signatures, more than double the 500 she needed. A series of issues with her petition circulators, however, prompted several rival campaigns to attest that she had in fact fallen below the signature threshold and needed to be removed from the June 2 primary ballot.
During a nearly 14-hour hearing that took up all of yesterday and continued into this morning, Administrative Law Judge Michael Stanzione evaluated hundreds of individual challenges to Altman’s petitions. Stanzione ultimately ruled that 358 of the signatures were invalid, keeping Altman well above the 500-signature threshold; he’s now set to issue an advisory opinion to that effect, though the ultimate decision about ballot access rests with Secretary of State Dale Caldwell.
“I think this is yet another piece of evidence that we’re the frontrunner,” Altman told the New Jersey Globe after the challenges failed. “These are absurd and desperate attacks, and it’s because we’re going to win this thing.”
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/sue-altman-to-stay-on-nj-12-ballot-after-trio-of-petition-challenges-fall-short/