One day after he voided the results of the Democratic primary for Roselle Borough Council, embattled Superior Court Judge John Deitch will hold a case management conference on Thursday at 2 PM to figure out how to proceed.
Deitch determined that three voters in a primary where incumbent Denise Wilkerson defeated challenger Cynthia Johnson by two votes the disenfranchisement of three voters due to mistakes by election officials required the a new primary.
Bergen County Counsel Bruce Bergen told Deitch not to create any additional delays in the printing of ballots.
“Presumably, the position in question would not be included on the Roselle general election ballot as that vote cannot now take place until after a special primary is held,” Bergen said. “It will be impossible for a legal, fair, open and fully transparent ‘new election’ for the primary vote to take place in time for the result to be included on the November 4, 2025 general election ballot,” said Bergen.
He told Deitch in a letter that all of the statutes applying to primaries would be in force and voting machines programmed.
No Republican filed for the seat, but it’s possible that a write-in candidate could emerge.
Assemblyman Reginald Atkins, the Roselle Democratic municipal chairman, believes Deitch was incorrect in determining that the now-vacant Democratic nomination should be filled by the local county committee members.
“A primary election is the mechanism by which a party selects its candidate. Here, that process failed to produce a nominee because the Board of Elections, through its own errors, disenfranchised three voters,” said Atkins’ attorney, Timothy Howes. “To deprive the Democratic Party of a nominee under these circumstances would frustrate the purpose of the primary and run counter to legislative intent.”
Howes said that Atkins is preparing to hold a county committee meeting to pick a Democratic nominee. There is a belief that such a process favors Johnson, but Atkins’ majority on that panel is tenuous and a vote could swing based on turnout.
The legal challenge to the June 10 primary took more than three months, leaving Democrats without time to re-run a primary.
Click HERE to read about a do-over New Jersey congressional primary in 1976.
