A candidate for a city council seat in Jersey City’s Ward B learned on Thursday evening that election officials misspelled her name on voting machines, and she wants a judge to order the county clerk’s office to get it fixed.
On Spanish-language ballots in the city’s most Hispanic Ward, Lorena Loayza is listed on the ballot as Lorenza Loayza. Her lawyer, Scott Salmon, said in court papers filed last night that Loayza has a “statutory right to have her name on the ballot – the same name that she campaigned with, submitted her paperwork with, and which appears everywhere else
“Aside from writing a candidate’s name incorrectly, differences between ballots has the potential, if not likelihood, of confusing voters,” Salmon said. “Voters will enter the voting booth expecting to see one name and instead will see another.”
Loayza’s name is spelled correctly on sample ballots, mail-in ballots, and English-language ballots.
“Each moment that passes by increases the risk that voters will be impacted by this error,” stated Salmon.
Loayza is running on a ticket headed by Jersey City mayoral candidate James Solomon.
Today is the seventh day of in-person, early voting in New Jersey. The polls open at 10 AM.
This also happened in Edgewater Park this year: school board candidate Karen McLaughlin was listed on the ballot as Karen McGaughlin. It was too late to reprogram voting machines, and the Burlington County Clerk sent postcards notifying every voter of the change.
In 2023, the county clerk failed to include the name of an independent candidate for State Senate on the ballot in the two Hudson County municipalities in the 29th legislative district.
