Two city council members in Paterson have been indicted for allegedly interfering with a special election last year, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced Wednesday, in a case cited by then-President Donald Trump in his unsuccessful lawsuit to try and invalidate voting by mail in New Jersey.
Alex Mendez won the special election to fill a council seat on May 12, but voter fraud claims soon surfaced. The state attorney general’s office initiated a probe after U.S. Postal Service inspectors said they found hundreds of mail-in ballots located in a mailbox in Paterson, along with more found in nearby Haledon.
Ultimately, the Passaic County Board of Elections decided not to count 800 ballots cast in the race and a judge ordered a new election for last November.