It was just a few minutes before last Monday’s filing deadline that two petitions were delivered to the Morris County Clerk’s Office.

One was by Robert Snyder of Parsippany who filed for county commissioner.

The other was by Andrew Agliata of Rockaway who filed for county clerk.

Filing at the last minute can be dangerous – politically that is. There is always the possibility of making a mistake with a hasty filing.

That’s why the petitions of both Snyder and Agliata are being challenged by their opponents. Petitions need to have enough valid signatures and they also need to be circulated correctly. This has a lot to do with technicalities, but such things are important.

What is not in dispute is that the late entries into the race shook things up a bit.

The county commissioners’ primary was going to be a one-on-one battle between incumbent Tayfun Selen and Paul DeGroot.

They both ran against each other last year for the party’s CD-11 nomination with DeGroot

prevailing. That happened despite the fact that Selen was endorsed by the Morris County Republican Committee.

That pattern repeated itself this year; Selen has the “county line.”

With Synder entering the race, DeGroot’s task on the surface becomes more challenging. There now would be two candidates running “off line” instead of just one.

As for clerk, incumbent Ann Grossi was unopposed in the primary until a few minutes before 4 p.m. last Monday.

So, both DeGroot and Grossi certainly have reason to contest their opponents’ petitions.