Trial Date Set In Ongoing Mendham Township Election Scandal

MENDHAM, NJ — The trial date for an attempt to overturn the results of the Mendham Township Committee election, in which incumbent Tom Baio was defeated by candidate Lauren Spirig, has been set.

The expedited date was selected by Morris County Assignment Judge Stuart Minkowitz.

Both parties will appear before Minkowitz on Jan. 19 to hear Baio's claim that 33 voters should be rejected because they did not meet the residency requirements for voting in Mendham Township.

"There shall be no adjournments of the trial date absent extraordinary circumstances," Minkowitz said in the court order. "Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Court will not entertain applications for adjournments/continuances of the trial due to unavailability to witnesses."

Spirig's initial victory was quickly called into question by Baio, who lost by only three votes to Spirig.

The final results of the election were laid out again in a notice submitted to the court by Morris County Clerk Ann Grossi, naming Baio as the overall third-place candidate, earning 1,470 votes in the recount.

In response to the recount, Baio filed an official lawsuit in the Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division, Civil Part Morris County, in Morristown, on Dec. 20, claiming voter fraud.

Read more: 'Shame On You:' Residents Call For Concession In Mendham Election

According to fellow township committee member Amalia Duarte, the lawsuit and challenge is a direct attack on young people's voting rights, as many of the challenges involve children of local residents who, despite allegedly no longer living at home, continue to vote within the township.

One of the voters named in the lawsuit is the daughter of Duarte, who resides in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Duarte previously expressed her displeasure with the Republican Committee's voter suppression attempt, claiming that young voters are a product of their community and consider Mendham to be their hometown, regardless of where they currently reside.

Many residents have spoken up demanding that Baio concede his November election loss against Spirig, asking him to "course correct and set an important example" for the children of the community.