Atlantic City Council Candidate’s Residency Is Being Challenged

Atlantic City 2nd Ward Councilwoman LaToya Dunston has filed a formal challenge with the Atlantic County Superintendent of Elections Office regarding her Democratic Primary Election opponent Viana V. Bailey.

The formal complaint alleges that Bailey does not meet the requirements to legally appear on the June, 2023 election ballot.

We have received complete copies of all documents that have been provided by The Atlantic County Superintendent of Elections to Dunston.

We are not publishing several of the documents, because some of them contain Bailey’s home address and we want to respect her privacy here.

However, the documents appear to clearly prove that Bailey has not lived in Atlantic City’s 2nd Ward for the sufficient amount of time required by New Jersey election laws.

A candidate must live in the Ward for one year before being eligible to run for a City Council seat.

The above graphic was provided by the Atlantic County Superintendent of Elections Office and it confirms that Bailey lived outside of Atlantic City’s 2nd Ward until January 18, 2023.

Bailey’s documented voting recurs also proves that she loved outside of the 2nd Ward until recently.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small recruited Bailey in order to try and defeat the incumbent Councilwoman Dunston, because Dunston does not support the Small agenda.

It appears as though Small did not do his proper homework and may have recruited a candidate who is not eligible to run in Atlantic City’s 2nd Ward.

This was a big move on Small’s part, because he will likely be losing a close City Council ally in Hossain MD Morshed.

Morshed has been federally indicted on charges of electoral misconduct and misappropriation of funds and benefits.

If Bailey is removed from the ballot, Dunston will run unopposed in the Democratic June Primary election, which is basically the equivalent of the General Election, as the Democratic Primary winner is a lock to win the four-year City Council seat.

It appears that Atlantic City Clerk Paula Geletei is left with no choice … she will likely be required by law to remove Bailey from the ballot.

Developing. We’ll update as warranted.