A Hudson County Superior Court judge has scheduled a hearing next week to hear complaints about the county Clerk's decision to bracket some candidates on the ballot for November's Jersey City special election, a source says.

Clerk Barbara Netchert issued an opinion earlier this month allowing the bracketing of candidates' names on November's ballot. In a field that will include 19 candidates, the ruling would allow some candidates to stand out if they decided to pair up

Some candidates have protested, saying the brackets offer an unfair advantage to the incumbents. A spokesman for candidate Imtiaz Syed said Judge Maurice Gallipoli will hear the complaints next Thursday, Sept. 22 at 10 a.m.

Voters in the election will choose who fills two vacancies on the City Council left when former members Mariano Vega and Willie Flood resigned. Vega left his post in September 2010 after pleading guilty to corruption charges, while Flood stepped down in February 2011, citing health concerns.

Current council members Ray Velazquez and Kalimah Ahmad were tapped to replace Vega and Flood until November's election. Velazquez and Ahmad, who have been endorsed by Mayor Jerramiah Healy, have chosen to bracket themselves together on the ballot, as have Sue Mack and Omar Perez, as well as Viola Richardson and Rolando Lavarro.
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... nty_judge_to_hear_co.html

Two of the 19 candidates for November?s special election of two At-Large City Council seats petitioned Hudson County Superior Court yesterday to overturn the Hudson County Clerk?s previous decision allowing pairs of candidates to be bracketed together on the ballot.

Both Imtiaz Syed and Nabil Youssef (at left and right in photo at right) have sent letters to the court asking it to overturn the decision by Hudson County Clerk Barbara Netchert. The clerk had studied the issue and made the ruling after a request to do so from the two candidates currently filling the At-Large seats, Kalimah Ahmad and Ray Velazquez. They are one of three pairs of candidates who bracketed together, along with Suzanne Mack and Omar Perez, and Rolando Lavarro and current Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson.

Syed specifically takes aim at Ahmad and Velazquez, who were appointed to fill the seats vacated by Willie Flood and Mariano Vega, and are being supported by Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

?Bracketing the two current incumbent choices of Mayor Healy as a team would serve to undermine the Democratic process by giving these incumbents an unfair advantage, rather than a level playing field,? Syed writes. ?Furthermore, it would infringe upon the long held and cherished concept of ?one man ? one vote.??
http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... e-for-novembers-election/