The Jersey Jive

THERE’S one question that wasn’t satisfactorily answered in all the fighting over Robert Torricelli’s scandal-driven withdrawal from the New Jersey Senate race. To allow Torricelli to pull out, and to allow Democrats to replace him with former senator Frank Lautenberg, the New Jersey supreme court had to ignore a state law that forbids such changes within 51 days of an election. Which leaves the question: If it could be so easily thrown aside, what was the purpose of the law in the first place?

Ask legal experts in New Jersey, and they’ll tell you the deadline provision of New Jersey Statute 19:13-20 was always more of a practical guideline than an actual law. “The real original intent was to provide an administrative mechanism to do two things,” says Richard Perr, an adjunct professor of law at Rutgers University in Camden. “One, to allow parties to fill an open ballot position, and two, to provide some sort of administrative cushion to those people who are supervising the election.” In other words, the deadline was created as a way to make sure election officials had enough time to print ballots and perform other tasks necessary for voting to take place.

About the Author

Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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THERE’S one question that wasn’t satisfactorily answered in all the fighting over Robert Torricelli’s scandal-driven withdrawal from the New Jersey Senate race. To allow Torricelli to pull out, and to allow Democrats to replace him with former senator Frank Lautenberg, the New Jersey supreme court had to ignore a state law that forbids such changes within 51 days of an election. Which leaves the question: If it could be so easily thrown aside, what was the purpose of the law in the first place?

Ask legal experts in New Jersey, and they’ll tell you the deadline provision of New Jersey Statute 19:13-20 was always more of a practical guideline than an actual law. “The real original intent was to provide an administrative mechanism to do two things,” says Richard Perr, an adjunct professor of law at Rutgers University in Camden. “One, to allow parties to fill an open ballot position, and two, to provide some sort of administrative cushion to those people who are supervising the election.” In other words, the deadline was created as a way to make sure election officials had enough time to print ballots and perform other tasks necessary for voting to take place.