Democrat leader applied for 1,000 ballots day after being slammed in voter fraud case

PERTH AMBOY – Last month, when a Superior Court judge tossed November's election results for a City Council seat, she also slammed the city's Democratic chairwoman for engaging in possible vote-by-mail fraud and taking advantage of frail nursing home residents.

Leslie Dominguez-Rodriguez stepped down from her leadership role two days later, but it was still back to business as usual.

A day or so after the ruling, Dominguez-Rodriguez went to the Middlesex County Clerk's Office in New Brunswick and tried to take out a thousand vote-by-mail ballot applications, MyCentralJersey.com has learned.

Dominguez-Rodriguez has not been charged with a crime and she has denied wrongdoing in the civil case. And there is no law against taking out that many ballot applications.

But despite losing her post, Dominguez-Rodriguez remains involved in the political process, raising more questions about the integrity of both the city's special election May 12 for the contested City Council seat as well as the state's vote-by-mail system.

Lawmakers in Trenton are seeking to limit the potential for fraud by reducing number of vote-by-mail ballots that people can handle on behalf of other voters

In a new development, meanwhile, the bipartisan county Board of Elections has asked Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey to open a criminal investigation into the election.

The former vice chairwoman of the Middlesex County Democrats resigned under pressure from local and county Democrats following the ruling in a lawsuit filed by City Council candidate Sergio Diaz, who had lost in November to Fernando Gonzalez by just 10 votes.

Diaz was supported by Democrats aligned with Mayor Wilda Diaz, while Dominguez-Rodriguez supported Gonzalez. The city has nonpartisan elections dominated by Democrats on all sides.

FLASHBACK: Judge says Democratic chairwoman took advantage of frail nursing home voters

Dominguez-Rodriguez could not be reached for comment Friday.

In her March 25 ruling, Judge Heidi Currier said the fraud here "went far beyond a technical violation" and the actions of Dominguez-Rodriguez and Gilfrank Nunez, a cousin of her husband's school board running mate, "were pervasive and far reaching and likely not just limited to these individuals whose ballots have been contested."

Overturning an election is extremely rare, but Currier said the 13 undeniably questionable ballots was greater than the margin of victory.

Currier found that several voters that Dominguez-Rodriguez assisted in filling out their ballots did not recall voting at all, or remembered being pressured by her to vote. One of the voters is blind.

Testimony also indicated that Dominguez-Rodriguez may have impersonated the woman whose name was listed on the ballots as having helped the voters.

EARLIER: Perth Amboy Democrat should face voter fraud criminal probe, GOP leader says

Board of Elections Administrator James Vokral this month called on the Prosecutor's Office to step in, according to an April 9 letter obtained this week by MyCentralJersey.com

"Since there were serious allegations against the local Democratic chair, Leslie Dominguez-Rodriguez, and in the interest of the voters in Middlesex County, we are requesting that your office investigate this situation to determine if there were any intentional/erroneous/illegal actions and/or wrong doings," his letter says.

Vokral's full letter. (Click if you're reading on mobile.) Story continues below.

Vokral and the Prosecutor's Office declined to comment for this story Friday.

County Clerk Elaine Flynn on Friday confirmed that Dominguez-Rodriguez made the request for 1,000 applications on or near the date of the court decision but was granted just 200 English applications and 200 Spanish applications.

After the request, Flynn said her office started a new policy limiting application requests to just 50 per person so that the county doesn't run out.

State voters can vote by mail for any reason, but they have to apply for a ballot. Vote-by-mail is supposed to help people who, for whatever reason, can't make it to the polls. But it's also used by campaigns to hold the hands of voters and make sure they cast their ballots. The margin of victory in numerous local elections across the state often comes down to which candidate got the most mail-in ballots.

EARLIER: 'Vote fraud' ex-judge still trying to vote in Woodbridge

Currently, a person is allowed to obtain mail-in ballots on behalf of up to 10 voters. Proposed legislation would limit the ballots of these so-called messengers to three.

So-called bearers can then deliver an unlimited number of completed ballots to the Board of Elections. The legislation would also limit bearers to just three and require that bearers prove their identity to county election officials.

There is no limit to how many voters a person can assist.

Flynn said Friday that her office so far has processed 10 completed applications for the Perth Amboy special election and three of those voters have returned their completed ballots.

For the latest watchdog coverage of Middlesex County communities, follow Staff Writer Sergio Bichao at Facebook.com/sergio.bichao

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com