A November 2025 race for a seat on the Oakland Borough Council that ended in a tie after a recount is headed to a special election between Republican incumbent Kevin Slasinki and independent Matthew Dumpert after a judge said a description of a voter’s politics was enough to order to invalidate a vote.
Superior Court Judge Kelly A. Conlon rejected a ballot cast by Natalie Carti, the wife of former NFL player Jake Butt, pointing to evidence that the 30-year-old woman lived in Chicago and not at her parents’ home in Oakland.
Carti declined to testify – she had indicated an intention to exercise her Fifth Amendment privilege – and Conlon found her Chicago residency, including a lease, pay stubs, and W-2 forms, were inadmissible as hearsay.
But an attorney for Slasinski, Charles Reboli, called Carti’s parents and asked them to testify about their daughter’s residency – and her political leanings. Both parents told Conlon that Carti got married in April 2025 and has been residing in Chicago, executing two apartment leases there.
Conlon also relied on expert testimony by Republican John McCann, who lost his bid for re-election to Dumpert’s running mate and is now a municipal court judge in Cresskill. McCann says Democrats tend to run as independents in Oakland “to increase their chances of being elected.”
“Taking her parents’ testimony into account regarding the political leanings, the social causes which they support, and the party’s political leanings –in addition to the testimony of John McCann regarding the political makeup in the borough of Oakland – the court finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that (the) respondent has sustained his burden of proof that her ballot contained a vote for Matthew Dumpert,” Conlon said.
Conlon, who didn’t speak to the voter, never determined if Carti was one of the 309 VBM voters in Oakland who didn’t vote in the council election.
But Dumpert picked up a vote after his attorney, Scott Salmon, convinced Conlon to allow a vote-by-mail ballot that initially checked off the names of the Republicans but crossed them out and voted for the independents. The voter included a post-it note with the ballot explaining their intent, but the Bergen County Board of Elections rejected it anyway.
With one vote added and one taken away, the tie stands.
Salmon indicated he plans to appeal, and briefs are due by Tuesday on whether a special election may continue.
