NJ Dems Get OK from Court

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that Democrats can change the November election ballot and substitute their own candidate for Robert Torricelli's U.S. Senate seat. The Republican party said that they will file an appeal in federal court.

The ruling was 7 to 0 in favor of allowing the ballots to be changed, even though Torricelli dropped out after the official deadline for changes had come and gone.

The lawyer for Republicans said that state law sets a 51-day deadline for a candidate to drop out. Torricelli withdrew 36 days before the election.

The justices questioned whether changing the deadline would open the door for future candidates to drop out if poll numbers showed them losing. They also asked if voters would be disenfranchised if the ballot were unchanged.

The attorney for New Jersey's 21 county clerks said it comes down to time and money. John Carbone said that changing the ballot would cost nearly $800,000 and it won't be possible if delayed until Tuesday.

Angelo J. Genova, a lawyer for state Democrats, argued that the intent of the law saying a statewide candidate can drop out 51 days or more prior to the election is only meant to ensure there is enough time to prepare ballots.

Only about 1,600 ballots have been mailed out and there is enough time to make new ones, Genova said.

"The goal of the statute is to suggest that we want to have sufficient time to satisfy the mechanics of the election," Genova said.

He was the first to present his case to the court. Attorneys for the county clerk's association, state Republicans and the Conservative party were also scheduled to address the court.

Senate candidates from the Libertarian and Green parties were scheduled to represent themselves at the hearing, which was expected to last several hours.

Late Tuesday night, Democratic leaders named former Sen. Frank Lautenberg as their preference to replace Torricelli, who dropped out of the race Monday amid questions about his ethics.

The seven justices of New Jersey's Supreme Court agreed to let attorneys sidestep lower courts and argue on whether Democrats can switch names on the ballot. Republicans say Torricelli missed the deadline and that adding Lautenberg's name would allow parties to replace candidates as elections neared simply because they feared losing.

Democrats said that decades of state court decisions put voters' rights above filing deadlines and other technical guidelines.

Attorney General David Samson, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevey, said in written arguments Tuesday that the justices have the power to relax the deadline and allow Democrats to post another candidate so voters would have more choice.

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Author: NBC10/AP