Lopez got New Jersey license last month

Jersey City Councilwoman Nidia R. Lopez got her license to drive in New Jersey last month.  

New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission spokesman Mike Horan said that Lopez was issued a digital driver’s license on June 15.  Two and a half months earlier, on April 1,  the state issued her a non-driver ID.  That was two months after she officially kicked off her campaign.

But Lopez was registered to drive in Florida until just last week, when the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles got word from the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission that Lopez got her license here.  The Florida agency was informed on June 30 – the same day that news broke of former council candidate Jimmy King’s complaint that seeks to invalidate Lopez’s election based on her residency.   

The license timing is relevant because former Ward C council candidate Jimmy King is challenging the validity of Lopez’s May election in court, arguing that Lopez has claimed her Florida house as her primary residence for tax purposes and that she had a Florida driver license.

Lopez, 59, does have a driver history in New Jersey that goes back to 1977, Horan said.  Her Florida driving record is clean, save for one recorded expired tags violation.  

Horan said that state law gives drivers who move here from out-of-state 60 days to change their addresses with the Motor Vehicle Commission.  To comply with that law, she would have had to move here after March 1.  

Council candidates are required to reside in their wards for at least one year prior to the election, which occurred on May 12.  

Lopez does not have a car registered in New Jersey.  It is not possible to tell whether she has or had a car registered in Florida, since that information is protected by the state’s Driver Privacy Protection Act.

“We’re going to address all those issues in our pleading, and it will be filed shortly,” said Lopez attorney Bill Northgrave.  

No court date has been set to hear King’s complaint.  Both sides are scheduled to have a conference with Hudson County Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipoli on either Thursday or Friday next week.

“I’m anxiously looking forward to the forms to see what they say,” said King attorney Alex Booth.