3/25/15 Court Ruling for Sergio Diaz;
Leslie Dominguez, Fernando Gonzalez and Wilda Diaz Issue Statements. Click here to read them. 2014 Results below.
PERTH AMBOY – Everyone thought the 2014 November Local Elections were over, especially with the swearing in of Fernando Gonzalez as Councilman at the 1/2/15 City Council Inauguration and Reorganization Meeting.
In the meantime, a battle was brewing over the Vote-By -Mail ballots.
On Election Night (11/4/14) you can see by the chart below (originally printed on Page 2 of the 11/12/14 issue of the Amboy Guardian) that Diaz was ahead of Gonzalez when the Machine Only votes were tabulated. Their positions changed when Gonzalez was able to overtake Diaz by 10 votes with a substantial increase in the Vote-By-Mail and Provisional ballots.
Because of the closeness of the election, Sergio Diaz decided to look at the Vote-By-Mail ballots for any discrepancies. That decision paid off when Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Heidi Currier voided 13 ballots. She not only ruled that there were fraudulent ballots but she also threw the book at Perth Amboy Democratic Chair Leslie Dominguez-Rodriguez.
The ruling came on 3/25/15 after some residents of a nursing home testified that they could not remember who they voted for or were pushed into voting for certain candidates.
During their testimony, the name of Leslie Dominguez-Rodrguez came up as the person who influenced them as to who they should vote for. This was the deciding point for Judge Currier’s ruling.
As a result, the Judge called for a new election that will take place on 5/12/15. Sergio Diaz and Fernando Gonzalez will be the only names listed on the ballot for the last Council position.
The Judge also decided that the candidates were not involved in the fraud.
Fernando Gonzalez sat on the Council at the 3/23/15 Caucus Meeting, but because of the ruling, he sat in the audience and is not allowed to sit on the Council unless he is successful in the special election.
Leslie Dominguez-Rodriguez had been asked to resign as Perth Amboy Democratic Chair as far back as 2013.
Former Mayoral Candidates Frank Salado, Miguel Morales and Robert McCoy joined forces with Mayor Wilda Diaz to ask for Dominguez-Rodriguez to relinquish the Democratic Chair in March 2013.
Since this ruling has come down from Judge Currier, Dominguez-Rodriguez has resigned as Perth Amboy Democratic Chair. She feels that it would be for the best for the Perth Amboy Democratic Party.