Tag: #elections

Five candidates have filed petitions to run for two open seats on the Middletown Township Committee in the June 2, 2026 primary, according to the latest candidate list produced by election officials. The field includes a contested Republican primary and a two-candidate Democratic slate for the seats to be decided in November.

The race comes at a moment of transition in local government. One incumbent is not seeking re-election, the current mayor is running for county commissioner, and a sitting board of education member is seeking higher office. The Republican primary, in particular, reflects a split between county-backed candidates and an independent challenger.

Middletown operates under the Township Committee form of government, with five members elected at-large to staggered three-year terms. The committee reorganizes annually in January, selecting a mayor and deputy mayor from among its members for one-year terms.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit on February 26, 2026, seeking a court order that would require New Jersey to produce records from its Statewide Voter Registration List (the “SVRL”), including “all fields” the department says it demanded in earlier letters.

The case, United States v. Caldwell, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.N.J.) as a statutory records-demand enforcement action under the Civil Rights Act record-demand provisions, according to the complaint. The defendant is Dale G. Caldwell, sued in his official capacity as New Jersey’s lieutenant governor and secretary of state, court documents indicate.

The complaint says DOJ is seeking the SVRL records to assess New Jersey’s compliance with federal voter-registration list maintenance requirements, including those in the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

Federal courts in California, Michigan, and Oregon have recently dismissed lawsuits by the Department of Justice that sought to force states to hand over full, unredacted voter registration lists, including sensitive personal data. Those rulings signal growing judicial resistance to the DOJ’s broader campaign to obtain private voter information from dozens of states, with judges warning the efforts could threaten voter privacy and state control of elections.