MORRIS COUNTY – The Morris County Republican Committee (MCRC) held an Executive Committee meeting this week to hear an appeal from the Toby Anderson campaign that alleged procedural deficiencies in last week’s Republican County Committee convention were the reason for his 5-vote loss.
The Morris County Executive Committee consists of the MCRC Executive Board, the Municipal Chairs from 38 municipalities (Victory Gardens is vacant), the two-state committee representatives, the Chair of the Morris County Young Republicans, the Chair of the Morris County Teenage Republicans, and the President of the Women’s Republican Club.
After the Anderson Campaign failed to prove one point of their allegations, the Executive Committee voted unanimously to reject their appeal. There was one abstention – Scott Russell acting Chair in Montville. One witness was called from the Anderson campaign, at the suggestion of Russell, to give testimony that there were people registering after 7:30 p.m., which would have been against the Convention rules. Under oath, she stated that she did not see that. In fact, she only could say that she herself registered before 7:30 p.m. and there were no county committee members being registered after 7:30 p.m.
Other allegations that were presented by the campaign included that county committee members were permitted to vote that were not on the certified list as of February 25. That was unable to be proven because it was false and not true.
Other allegations included opposition to procedures that were documented in the Rules of the Convention. These Rules of the Convention were presented to each of the candidates at a February 23, 2022 meeting where candidates were asked to provide input on them. At the end of the meeting, all Candidates agreed to the rules. The Rules of the Convention supersede Roberts Rules in party Conventions and as mentioned above were agreed to by all the candidates.
“It’s unfortunate that some losing campaigns attribute their loss to election wrongdoings. I should have been clearer about the most important rule of all regarding the Convention: that not everyone will win. And just because you lose, it doesn’t make it ok to scream from the rooftops and on social media that there was voter fraud. Our convention was run with the help of nearly 50 volunteer Morris County Republicans who operate with the highest level of integrity, at all times throughout the convention,” Chairwoman Laura Marie Ali had to say.
“The sight from the podium, looking out at the sea of engaged spirited Republicans was something I’ll never forget! It’s a great time to be a Morris County Republican!,” she added.
