Candidate Re-registers to Vote After Election Board Hearing

COURT HOUSE — Independent candidate for Middle Township Committee Mike Voll appeared before the county Board of Elections on Wed., Sept. 8, to answer allegations from Bob Noel, the campaign manager of incumbent Democratic Mayor Susan DeLanzo, regarding Voll’s status as a registered New Jersey voter.
Noel had submitted documents to the Election Board that allegedly showed Voll was registered and had voted in both Middle Township and Pinellas County, Fla. in recent years. Voll, who previously served on Township Committee for 18 years, has a condominium in Largo, Fla.
Attorneys for Voll and Noel traded accusations at the hearing.
Robert Sandman, Voll’s lawyer, called Noel a “coward.” He suggested that Noel was using these allegations as a political maneuver to get negative headlines about Voll in local newspapers.
Noel challenged Sandman’s characterization of him as a coward. He told the Herald that he obtained information regarding Voll’s voting record and released it to local newspapers and the election board because he thought the public should be aware of it.
“His legitimacy as a voter was questionable and I thought the people should know that,” Noel said.
Additionally, Sandman said the only thing the board was empowered to determine was Voll’s ability to vote in the coming election. According the board, a voter must reside in a place for 30 days to be eligible to register.
Voll lives in Rio Grande full time and has been an employee in Stone Harbor for the entire summer, Sandman said. Neither side challenged that fact.
“This is nothing more than the campaign manager of his adversary using your dime and taxpayers dollars to abuse this process,” he said. “Let’s call it what it is. That’s exactly what it is because there’s nothing for you to decide today.”
Jeffrey April, attorney for Noel and the township Democratic association, agreed that Voll was now eligible to register to vote in Rio Grande. But if Voll was registered and had voted in both places, April argued that his registration here was voided. Among other allegations, April said Voll registered to vote in Cape May County in 2005 and then voted in the 2008 presidential election in Florida.
“What I’m saying is, as we sit here today, he is not properly registered in Cape May County,” April said.
“If he wants to vote in November, he has a right to fill out a voter registration card today or yesterday or tomorrow and register to vote within 30 days of the election,” he added. “My clients have indicated that they challenge his right to vote unless he registers to vote.”
Sandman made a suggestion.
“If it alleviates your need to make a decision today, my client will go next door and reregister right now,” Sandman said. “But understand we’re doing this as a convenience to the board so they stop using you to get headlines.”
Sandman also noted that Voll would agree to do that, but without waiving any rights he previously held. Sandman likely meant Voll’s right to remain a candidate in the coming election.
“Despite an effort by the Democrat Party, to knock Mike Voll out of the election, Mike Voll still remains a candidate for Middle Township Committee,” Voll said in a release. “Now that the political nonsense is over, let’s start debating the issues facing Middle Township.”
Voll said the law states that his opponent had four days from the date he filed his petition to run to challenge his candidacy.
“She (DeLanzo) blew that opportunity and she waited until after Labor Day to file the first bad political shot to deny the voters of Middle a choice in November,” he said.
DeLanzo was named the township’s first female mayor in January. She is seeking her fourth term in office, having been elected in 2001, 2004 and 2007.
While the Election Board hearing was not to determine if Voll was eligible to run for township committee, Democratic Party officials could argue that since Voll registered to vote on Wednesday, he wasn’t registered to vote prior to that, and candidates must be registered to vote in their municipality for a year prior to filing a petition to run.
“Voll’s fear of allowing the vote to go to the board, and his eagerness to register all over again, is an admission that he knew that he was not a properly registered voter,” Noel said in a release.
Noel told the Herald that neither he nor DeLanzo intended to challenge Voll’s candidacy, but he couldn’t speak for any other person or group.
“The mayor welcomes any legitimate candidate to run for public office,” Noel said.