Liz Macron Responds:
Liz Macron, the Libertarian candidate I contacted yesterday, has e-mailed me a copy of her comments to the N.J. State Supreme Court today. Here they are in their entirety:
Good Afternoon. My name is Elizabeth Macron. I am the Libertarian Party candidate for United States Senate.
The Democratic Party cites Kilmurray v. Gilfert, 10 N.J. 435 as dispositive of the issue. In Kilmurray, this Court noted the relationship between N.J.S.A. 19:13-19 (nominations by petition) and N.J.S.A. 19:13-20 (nomination by primary). In that particular case, this Court found that while the vacancy was not filled by the 37-day deadline of N.J.S.A. 19:13-20, the more lenient deadline required by N.J.S.A. 19:13-19 had been met. A candidate had been selected within the 34-day deadline that would apply to candidates nominated by petition. The Kilmurray decision treated the earlier deadline liberally while upholding the law equally for all candidates on the ballot. In this case before this Court, today, plaintiff has missed both deadlines and they have yet to present a nomination for the vacancy.
The Democratic Party says it acted in good faith. They have to show their own clean hands before they can ask the Court to bend the law on principles of equity. They say that the fifty-one day statutory requirement is a mere technicality. They call it a non-material requirement and argue that no harm is done if new Ballots can be printed and distributed in time. The harm they ignore is the harm that results from allowing a party machine to circumvent the law for political reasons. The plaintiffs have, thus far, been permitted to completely flaunt the law. They have filed procedurally deficient papers, without consequence. They have skirted the notice requirements of the court rules in bringing this matter before the court. They have obtained Injunctive Relief against parties not properly notified. They have filed a Verified Complaint that is not properly verified, thus calling into question the jurisdiction of the court. (Rule 1:4-7 and State v. One Datsun, 189 N.J. Super. 209 (App. Div. 1983)
What sort of precedent is set by permitting party machines to add and subtract candidates at will–without regard to the Rules of court, the Election Law or any of the ballot access rules and procedures? The plaintiffs seem to think that the “very purpose” of the election law is to insure the dominance of the two existing major parties. Why should that be so? The purpose of the election laws is to permit the citizens to vote for whomever they choose. Not whomever the party machine chooses.
Voter choice will not be impaired in the slightest by denial of plaintiff’s application. Mr. Genova says on page 12 of his brief that voter choice is compromised when ballot access is denied to any candidate and “in particular candidates of the major parties”. He cites page 441 of the Kilmurray decision as authority for this claim. Kilmurray says no such thing. The decision says: