A judge has ruled that a new election will be held in November for a disputed Paterson City Council seat, just weeks after the race’s apparent winner and a sitting councilman were charged with voter fraud, Fox News reported.
State Superior Court Judge Ernest Caposela issued his ruling Wednesday.
Alex Mendez won a special election on May 12 to fill the seat. Claims of voter fraud were soon raised. An investigation was then launched after the U.S. Postal Service’s law enforcement arm. They found hundreds of mail-in ballots in a mailbox in Paterson and another in Haledon.
Ultimately, 800 ballots were discounted by the Passaic County Board of Elections, and another 2,300 ballots were rendered ineligible after analyzing signatures on file and comparing them to those on the ballots, according to the Hill. A Passaic County report shows that these 3,100 disqualified ballots are equal to more than 22% of the total votes cast in the election.
Voter fraud charges were brought in June against Mendez, Paterson Council Vice President Michael Jackson and two other men: Shelim Khalique, of Wayne, and Abu Rayzen, of Prospect Park.
An attorney for Councilman William McKoy, who was defeated by Mendez, then successfully sought an injunction that barred Mendez from being sworn into office.
All four defendants have maintained their innocence.
TRUMP WAS RIGHT AGAIN
This is an example of what can happen – easily – with mail-in ballots. It’s not a USPS problem. It’s the process that’s at fault. The USPS does a decent job.
The Trump campaign is suing New Jersey over Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order adopting a hybrid voting model for this November, as reported by CNN on Wednesday.
Murray the vote is one per CITIZEN so anything to could nullify a single vote should no be allowed. Mass mail voting would 100% lead to fraud. nJ just had to redo an election due to fraud. Illegals, voting, liberals voting multiple times, destroying ballots. Get it? https://t.co/SYhaS9up8M
— John Ogden (@johnogden007) August 21, 2020
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