Cherry Hill Dem committee fight may head to court

Politico

18-06-2025

Good Wednesday morning!
It does not appear Camden County Democrats are just going to lay down and let a ragtag trio of challengers take over the county committee in their biggest town.
Cherry Hill Democrats congratulated 'the members of the progressive party who have gained three seats on the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee' in a Friday on Facebook post.
That looks like a cheeky way of claiming their rivals, the South Jersey Progressive Democrats, who they don't call Democrats, didn't win the other 71 seats.
'At this juncture, we will be reserving further comment about the future of the committee until the election has been certified,' read the statement. (The page administrator turned off unapproved replies.)
Camden County voters chose just one oval for county committee in last week's primary — be it for the three 'South Jersey Progressive Democrats' who won, or the 74 candidates who ran under the 'Camden County Democratic Committee' slogan. The ballot was designed by County Clerk Pam Lampitt, a member of the Camden County Democratic machine. And if Camden County Democrats elected committee members by voting district instead of at-large, this wouldn't have been an issue. Instead, the three South Jersey Progressive Democrats got the top ballot spot and won by a landslide.
Naturally, the three South Jersey Progressive Democrats who won hope that they can fill the 71 vacancies. They cite both state law and the Camden County Democratic bylaws that say that vacancies, including those for 'failure to elect,' 'shall be filled for the unexpired term by the municipal committee of the municipality wherein the vacancy occurs.'
Since the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee isn't commenting, I can only speculate what their argument will be. My guess is it will be that three committee members can't form a quorum, leaving it up to the county chair to appoint the rest.
The election is set to be certified next week, after which the progressives are girding for a lawsuit from the Camden County Democrats. 'With a lawsuit, the machine will be saying to the Democratic voters of Cherry Hill: 'Heads we win, tails we go to court, employing our considerable financial muscle to overturn your decision to throw us out,'' Rena Margulis, one of the three successful committee candidates, said in a statement.
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