EDISON -- Authorities are looking into whether the "Make Edison Great Again" anti-Indian and anti-Chinese school board election mailers sent to township residents violated any campaign regulations or criminal laws.

The postcards, which read "The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town. Chinese school! Indian school! Cricket fields! Enough is enough," do not identify a group that footed the bill for the mailers.

Two board of education candidates, Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel, are pictured with a "deport" stamp covering part of their photos.

It was unclear how many residents received the postcard in the state's fifth-largest municipality, where nearly half of its population is Asian.

Both mayoral candidates, incumbent Democrat Thomas Lankey and Republican-hopeful Keith Hahn, denouncing the ads, as well as U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who tweeted that "Diversity is exactly what makes Edison, NJ great."

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is reviewing the incident.

"The racist message shocks the conscience and is highly offensive," Prosecutor Andrew Carey said in an emailed statement. "In order to support the community, our detectives, along with those from the Edison Police Department and other agencies, are examining the facts surrounding the mailing. It has yet to be determined as whether or not a chargeable bias or other crime has been committed."

Joe Donohue, the deputy director of the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission, said he was aware of the mailer but could not comment on the specific legality of the postcards or confirm whether or not the agency was investigating.

All school board candidates are required to label communications even if the expense is under the state-required limit for a general political campaign.

Donohue noted that independent groups are not required to report expenses under $1,600.

The Middlesex County Board of Elections, which organizes the voting across the county but doesn't investigate campaign violations, said it also knew of the mailer and had notified the proper law enforcement agencies to investigate.

Lankey associated the mailer's sentiment with his Republican challenger and said that "Edison will react swiftly to any potential threats that result from this flier being disseminated in my community."

Hahn, who was ousted from the local Democratic Organization's leadership over the summer and switched to the Republican ticket to challenge the mayor, described the flier as disgraceful and called for the "faceless cowards" to be exposed.

On Thursday afternoon, the American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey, the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice issued statements urging officials to investigate the flier.

"This is an example of how our current political environment is both normalizing and fueling racism," said Jesse Burns, executive director of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey.

Editor's note: The amount provided to NJ Advance Media for an independent group's disclosure threshold was not adjusted for inflation. The number has since been corrected.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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