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Contact: digaetanoforsenate@gmail.com

Kristin Corrado’s Ballot Blunders: Intended or Incompetent?

Franklin Lakes — State senate candidate Paul DiGaetano today responded to a report on InsiderNJ.com revealing a superior court’s finding that County Clerk Kristin Corrado botched the ballot design process requiring a new drawing, the segregation of erroneous ballots, and the mailing of a new round of ballots to voters who have voted the already.

“The key responsibility of the County Clerk is to administer fair, open, and honest elections,” DiGaetano said.  “You would think Kristin’s had seven years running primary elections, general elections, fire district elections, board of ed elections, and even special elections to get it right.  But for some reason she’s having a lot of trouble this year.  You really have to wonder why?”

DiGaetano noted that the new case is not the first time Corrado has found herself in court answering complaints about how she has handled the 2017 primary election.  He cited at least four troubling instances of impropriety:

• First, Corrado distributed incorrect freeholder petitions listing a law that was repealed back in 2014.  An examination of the freeholder petitions submitted by different candidates shows that Corrado only enforced the obsolete law on candidates who were not running with her — a deeply disturbing act of mischief.
• Next, Corrado faced a very serious charge of intimidation when State Committeewoman candidate Dawn Cody filed an affidavit describing the treatment she received from Corrado and Corrado’s staff in April.  Cody — who Corrado’s office originally excluded from the ballot — was ultimately allowed to run after Corrado failed to produce any evidence as to why she was excluded.
• Then, Corrado and her crew were forced to defend her decision to elevate gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciatrelli from the fifth line on the ballot to the second line on the ballot, even though Ciatarelli was drawn fifth in the legally binding luck-of-the-draw lottery.  As a by-product of Corrado’s decision to elevate Ciatarelli, her main opponent in the state senate race was moved down to the third row raising questions as to Corrado’s true motives.
• And now, the court has found that Corrado and her crew were flagrantly ignored the clear language of state statutes in order to add more running mates to her own line, which, at least coincidentally, would improve her presence and visibility on the ballot at the expense of her opponents.

The result according to DiGaetano is that, “Passaic County residents have been exposed to unknown costs to rectify the situation.  Voters certainly have to wonder, Are Corrado and her crew doing this on purpose or do they need help administering the election?”