40:45-10.1. Designation of committee on vacancies

When several candidates for the office of commissioner petition that their names be grouped together and that one designation named by them shall be printed opposite their names pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1981, c.379 (C.40:45-10), the candidates whose names are to be grouped in a bracket pursuant to that section may file with the clerk of the municipality a designation, in writing, of the names of three persons as a committee on vacancies.

A committee on vacancies established pursuant to this act shall have the power if a vacancy arises by death, resignation or otherwise, of any of the candidates included in said group, to fill the vacancy by filing with the clerk of the municipality the name of the candidate in the place of the person whose death, resignation or other occurrence caused the vacancy.

Any such designation to fill a vacancy shall have the same force and effect as an original petition of nomination.

To be effective, any designation by the committee on vacancies must be filed with the clerk of the municipality not less than 10 days before the election is to be held. In the event a vacancy occurs within 10 days of the election, any filing with the clerk of the municipality of a designated substitute candidate shall be made forthwith, and said designee shall be placed on the ballot if it is feasible to do so. The procedure and the manner and method of placing the name of any substituted candidate on the ballot and of the election of the candidates for the office, as nearly as practicable, shall be in accordance with the provisions of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes applicable in the case of vacancies in other offices to be filled at elections.

Nothing in this section shall prevent the filling of vacancies in any other manner authorized by Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, except that a candidate in a group bracket, who joins in the designation of a committee on vacancies under the provisions of this act, may not participate in any other method for filling a vacancy in his candidacy for commissioner.

L.1991,c.61,s.1.