Trenton Election Rumblings
TRENTON » Political parties are not represented in capital city elections.
The nonpartisan races means no candidates are allowed to run as a Democrat or Republican.
But when it came to picking a ballot slogan last week, mayoral candidate Walker Worthy identified himself as a Democrat.
Walker selected “Democrat For the People” as his ballot designation that is listed after his name.
However, New Jersey law states “the designation shall not indicate political party affiliation.” The mistake was first reported last week by community blogger Kevin Moriarty.
The clerk’s office informed Worthy Thursday that he needed to change his slogan. He then changed it to “The People’s Mayor.”
“I didn’t pick it because I’m affiliated with the Democratic party,” Worthy said Monday. “I picked it because I’m a Democrat for the people.”
Worthy contended there’s case law that would permit him to use “Democrat For The People,” but he couldn’t cite the case.
“We’re going to look into it,” said Worthy, who finished third in the 2014 mayoral race. “I don’t want to go back and forth with it until I’m absolutely sure. It has been used before in a similar situation but I don’t have the case and I don’t have the statute and I don’t have that so I can’t verify it. I don’t want to say the wrong thing because I can’t verify it.”
Worthy said he decided on the new slogan because it was something he had “been toying” with.
As for Worthy’s slogan making it all the way to the ballot list, Clerk Dwayne Harris said Monday it was a “slight oversight” that was “immediately corrected.”
“The designations were on there really to review for accuracy,” Harris said, noting the official list has yet to be published and what was circulated was given to candidates only. “I understand they went and put them on their Facebook pages, that’s how you got them.”