Paul Josephson

A lawyer for the state Democratic Party wants county clerks to stop rejecting applications for mail-in ballots solely on the basis of signature mismatches.

Instead, Democratic State Committee General Counsel Paul Josephson thinks county clerks should send those applicants provisional ballots -- a position that troubles Republican State Chairman Jay Webber. 

“To date more than 2,300 persons have been denied VBM ballots based on signature comparison alone,” wrote Josephson in a letter dated yesterday to Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells.  “Allowing these people to cast provisional ballots most efficiently provides a fail safe mechanism whereby their electoral choices can be timely submitted and evaluated.”

Josephson said that many more Democratic and unaffiliated voters’ ballots had been rejected based on their signatures than those of Republicans’.  He also said that the disparity in rejection rates between counties indicates that all clerks are not applying a uniform standard.

“It is our position that unless and until a uniform process for signature comparison is implemented by all clerks, and in view of the disparate rejection rate to date, no VBM application should be rejected solely on the basis of a signature comparison by county clerk staff, who are over-worked and are likely not trained in handwriting analysis.”

Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan has named Paul Josephson, a partner at the politically influential Princeton law firm of Hill Wallack and a former Chief Counsel to the Governor, as General Counsel to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.

In 2008, Josephson served as Counsel for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in New Jersey.

"One of our cornerstone projects has been helping insure that every vote is counted.  Most of that work takes place on Election Day, but in close races it involves post-election work like recounts and insuring that provisional ballots are recognized and counted.  Over the years, Hill Wallack created the go-to reference manual for Election Day lawyering that has been distributed to thousands of lawyers," Josephson said.  "We've recruited scores of attorneys to help campaigns.  We've trained well over a thousand lawyers around the state in how to assist voters and protect the electoral franchise.  This appointment allows us to continue that tradition, and to help the NJDSC institutionalize its efforts to protect the right to vote."

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Barack Obama's presidential campaign is expected to name Paul Josephson, a former Chief Counsel to Gov. James E. McGreevey, as the counsel to their New Jersey campaign.  There had been speculation that the post would go to either Angelo Genova or Bill Matsikoudis, the Jersey City Corporation Counsel.  By picking Josephson, the Obama campaign avoids another internal battle like the one that delayed the appointment of a state campaign director.

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