19:23-12 Committee on vacancies.

19:23-12. The signers to petitions for "Choice for President," delegates and alternates to national conventions, for Governor, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives, State Senator, member of the General Assembly and any county office may name three persons in their petition as a committee on vacancies.

This committee shall have power in case of death or resignation or otherwise of the person indorsed as a candidate in said petition to fill such vacancy by filing with the Secretary of State in the case of officers to be voted for by the voters of the entire State or a portion thereof involving more than one county thereof or any congressional district, and with the county clerk in the case of officers to be voted for by the voters of the entire county or any county election district, a certificate of nomination to fill the vacancy.

Such certificate shall set forth the cause of the vacancy, the name of the person nominated and that he is a member of the same political party as the candidate for whom he is substituted, the office for which he is nominated, the name of the person for whom the new nominee is to be substituted, the fact that the committee is authorized to fill vacancies and such further information as is required to be given in any original petition of nomination.

The certificate so made shall be executed and sworn to by the members of such committee, and shall upon being filed at least 55 days before election have the same force and effect as the original petition of nomination for the primary election for the general election and there shall be annexed thereto the oath of allegiance prescribed in R.S.41:1-1 duly taken and subscribed by the person so nominated before an officer authorized to take oaths in this State. The name of the candidate submitted shall be immediately certified to the proper municipal clerks. In addition, a person so nominated for the office of Governor or the office of member of the Senate or General Assembly shall annex to the certificate a statement signed by the candidate that he or she:

a. has not been convicted of any offense graded by Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes as a crime of the first, second, third or fourth degree, or any offense in any other jurisdiction which, if committed in this State, would constitute such a crime; or

b. has been so convicted, in which case, the candidate shall disclose on the statement the crime for which convicted, the date and place of the conviction and the penalties imposed for the conviction. Such a candidate may, as an alternative, submit with the statement a copy of an official document that provides such information. If the candidate has been convicted of more than one criminal offense, such information about each conviction shall be provided. Records expunged pursuant to chapter 52 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes shall not be subject to disclosure.

amended 1942, c.50, s.8; 1949, c.24, ss.8,12; 1975, c.43, s.4; 1985, c.92, s.17; 2004, c.26, s.3; 2011, c.37, s.7.