Araujo stays on the ballot

Saturday, April 11, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Ward D candidate James Carroll has failed a second time to knock opponent Christian Araujo out of the race.

Araujo, a retired lieutenant from the Hudson County Sheriff's Office, submitted 213 nominating petitions on March 19. He needed 200 valid petitions to qualify, and after two court cases, 200 were deemed permissible, said City Clerk Robert Byrne.

In his first challenge, Carroll, a Jersey City police sergeant, questioned several of Araujo's petitions on grounds that some voters had already nominated Carroll, others on the grounds that the names were spelled differently than on the voter registration cards, and a few on grounds that the addresses were incorrect.

But Araujo, who is running on mayoral candidate Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith's ticket, submitted enough name and address changes to stay on the ballot, ending up with 203 valid petitions.

Carroll, who is running on mayoral candidate Louis Manzo's ticket, next requested copies of Ward D Candidate Bill Gaughan's petitions, and found four people who signed for Gaughan before Araujo, and took those petitions to Hudson County Superior Court.

On Wednesday, Judge Maurice Gallipoli threw out the four duplicate petitions. However, he validated a petition that Byrne had thrown out because it had been signed by two people instead of just one. This brought Araujo back up to 200 petitions, allowing Araujo to stay on the ballot, Byrne said.