Struben, Curcic off ballot at least for now GOP candidates to seek redress in Superior Court over ballot signatures BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE - Two Republican candidates running for the Township Council-at-Large seats this November will take Township Municipal Clerk, John Mitch's decision to remove two names from the ballot to Superior Court, this week. Mitch made the decision to take Christopher Struben of Colonia and Magdalena Curcic of Woodbridge off the primary ballot due to a lack of the required 50 signatures that each candidate must provide with their submitted application. Struben and Curcic submitted a joint petition by the April 9th deadline with fellow Republicans Paul Lund Jr. of Hopelawn, and John E. Vieira of Colonia, seeking the four-year council-at-large terms. Township Republican Organization Chairman John Vrtaric is running for the four-year mayoral term. Mitch said the majority of the names signed on the petition appeared to be for Lund and Vieira. The cover sheet had all four candidate's names on the top with 11 signatures, which all the candidates shared. "There were 15 additional pages that could contain additional signatures," said Mitch. "One of the additional 15 pages said 'additional signatures for Christopher Struben' on top. There were seven signatures on the front and one signature on the back of the page. The following six pages had signatures supporting Paul Lund Jr. The next seven pages had signatures supporting John Vieira. And the last page was blank." Each candidate must have a minimum of 50 signatures each to be qualified to be a candidate, said Mitch. "The way I interpreted the petition is that Struben provided 19 signatures and Curcic provided 11 signatures," said Mitch. "In my opinion, they fell short of the required signatures. I followed the law." Mitch said he had to disqualify 16 names that were duplicated up to three times among the signatures for Lund and Vieira, but did not have to disqualify names for Struben and Curcic, which lead him to interpret that the signatures on the pages, which only had Lund or Vieira on the top of the pages, were for them only and not for the entire running slate. In addition, Mitch said after reviewing all the other petitions submitted by the Democratic Party and mayor, he had to disqualify names on all the petitions. Mayor John E. McCormac, who is finishing Mayor Frank G. Pelzman's unexpired term, is running for the four-year mayor term. Incumbents James Carroll, Gregg Ficarra, Patricia Osborne and Council President Brenda Yori Velasco and newcomer Frederick T. Fry Sr. of Colonia will vie for the four-year council-at-large terms. However, Struben, who learned that he and his running mate Curcic would not be put on the ballot on April 11, said Mitch improperly rejected the petitions. "I don't think it's his place to interpret things," said Struben. "He has made a certain assumption, which is not a factual assumption. An opposing candidate has the right to certify or not certify us for candidates." Struben said he hopes to be heard by a state Superior Court judge by the end of this week. "If we get to the following week, the harm will be done because the county clerk has to print the ballots and they only print it once," he said.