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Campaign Manager Sentenced for Election Fraud in 2021 New Jersey Gubernatorial Primary
Hunterdon County man receives probation after admitting to fraudulent activities to secure a spot on the Democratic ballot.
MORRISTOWN, NJ — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) announced the sentencing of James Devine, a campaign manager from Lambertville, Hunterdon County, for his role in a fraudulent scheme during the 2021 New Jersey governor’s race. Devine was sentenced to two years of probation on October 18, 2024, by Superior Court Judge Robert E. Lytle in Mercer County following a guilty plea to a third-degree crime concerning nomination certificates or petitions.
“Rather than knocking on doors and making a good faith effort to convince voters to support his candidate, the defendant misused voters’ information without authorization, in order to deceive the State into believing his candidate met the bare minimum of requirements to be on the ballot,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Cheating in a race for elected office is illegal and undemocratic, and there are consequences for it.”
“Criminal activity that threatens peoples’ faith in the fairness and legitimacy of our elections is unacceptable,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. “This case should send a message that election fraud will be detected and offenders will be held accountable.”
The case stemmed from an April 2021 incident where Devine attempted to place a candidate on the Democratic primary ballot by submitting 1,948 fraudulent nominating petitions to the New Jersey Department of State’s Division of Elections. This act aimed to enable his candidate to compete in the June 8, 2021, primary.
The New Jersey Democratic State Committee challenged the authenticity of the petitions shortly after they were submitted, leading to an investigation by OPIA. The inquiry revealed that Devine had uploaded false voter information onto the petition forms, submitting them without the voters' consent.
The fraudulent activities were uncovered following testimonies from individuals whose names appeared on the petitions but who confirmed they had neither submitted nor authorized the petitions. As a result of these findings, Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey N. Rabin struck Devine’s candidate from the ballot on April 13, 2021, siding with the committee's legal challenge.
In his plea, Devine admitted to knowing the petitions were falsely made at the time of filing. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Andrew Wellbrock, under the supervision of OPIA Corruption Bureau Chief Jeff Manis and Executive Director Skinner, highlighting the state’s ongoing efforts to maintain integrity within its electoral processes.
