Did Bias and Discrimination Lead to a Benavides for Governor Write-In Campaign?

A candidacy and a choice for acceptable domestic and international
policies hangs on handwriting analysis?

Consider the following.

Is your signature in 2025 the same as it was in 1973? Or in 1999? Or in 2020? Does your signature look the same every time you sign something? Would your signature, written in the quiet of your home look the way it does if you are instead signing someone’s clipboard in the middle of the summer on a boardwalk in Asbury Park? How does your electronic signature, you know the kind you write with your index finger on a screen, compare with the signature you write with a pen on paper?

Now, imagine your ability to have multiple options on your ballot depends upon whether those above mentioned signature comparisons exactly match. Meaning an attorney paid by the Democratic Party, who has a vested interest in protecting their candidate, can simply state, “those signatures do not match,” and invalidate your right to that choice. A statement they make based upon subjective and uninformed opinions, added to a lack of understanding of the differences in the Arabic and English letters or the cultural practices that could impact how signatures are written, as well as which names, abbreviations or shorthand are used when people are signing their names. Lastly, consider that no one making these statements expressed any interest in acknowledging any of those things, while simultaneously stating they are not handwriting experts before casually throwing someone’s signature out based on their determination of legitimacy.

“As of today, August 28, 2025, I withdrew my candidacy for Governor 2025 under the Green Party of New Jersey.” Said Lily Benavides, GPNJ’s candidate for NJ governor. “The corrupt democrats of Morris County, directed by their warmonger candidate for Governor Mikie Sherrill, challenged our petitions using all kinds of what looked like dirty tricks to invalidate the signatures of more than 400 citizens who willingly signed our petition. The election lawyer Rajiv Parikh may have been hired to defeat me but instead he found out who I really am. I fought tooth and nail until the end. I did not quit. I am not a quitter. I do not quit for the people of New Jersey that I want to represent, black and brown, poor, immigrants, disabled, oppressed, and the LGTBQ community. I am not abandoning the Palestinians in NJ that have trusted me.”

“Now more than ever we are committed to continue with our campaign and we are grateful for the free publicity we got. We will be organizing a full fledged write-in campaign because the Democrats need to know that they can’t just coast to victory. The Democrats don’t seem to understand that since the first day that they went against the will of the people they have lost. When they decided to support a genocide and vote along with Republicans to use our tax money to help Israel they lost. When they decided to go along with the current administration on their immigration policies they lost. No one believes in them anymore and even less after trying to stop third parties from participating democratically in the electoral process.”

As an independent political party (not Democrat and not Republican) we have always been subjected to discrimination. Earlier this year, after the GPNJ was able to field 14 candidates during the 2024 elections, the NJ legislature increased the number of valid petition signatures needed from 800 to 2000. The new law was implemented during the election year and the more than doubling of required signatures, vastly impacts third parties more than the two mainstream parties. GPNJ endured. We put much time and effort into gathering signatures over a three week period to get our replacement candidate on the ballot.

According to Ballot Access News, New Jersey is one of eleven states that allow candidates to be replaced should the original candidate have to end their campaign. However, New Jersey is the only state that requires repetitioning for that new candidate. As a result, GPNJ submitted almost 4000 signatures in June 2025, and then submitted almost 2500 additional signatures by mid-August. We overcame the onerous election laws. Then, our candidate was subjected to a near line by line scrutiny of our signatures, eventually disqualifying many due to a perceived difference in signatures by people who are not qualified to make that judgement.

Throughout the process, there were many times when the attorney for the Democrats and the Green Party members disagreed on the matching of the petition signature. In these moments, the GPNJ argued against unqualified persons making any assertions regarding the signatures. Eventually, our members questioned the general methodology, and whether the entire process could be considered a reliable measure of validity of a signature. We are still wondering.

Madelyn Hoffman, who ran for governor in New Jersey as a Green in 2021, was informed that the procedure in Colombia is to match fingerprints, not signatures. This process may not be practical in many instances. However, it certainly presents a better alternative to confirming a person’s identity, one that is not subjective or easily biased. That method does not erase the desire of voters to have more options on their ballots.

Both in NJ, and throughout the country, two major issues for voters are immigration and genocide. Voters are concerned with the actions of ICE, the inclusion of the National Guard in our communities, and ending the slaughter of innocent civilians in Palestine, whether by starvation, bombs or military and/or settler violence. Neither the Democrat Mikie Sherill, nor the Republican, Jack Ciaterrelli who met with Netanyahu recently, are aligned with voters on either issue.

The Green Party has been consistent and outspoken regarding our opposition to the genocide. Our gubernatorial candidates have attended many vigils and protests, in response to the genocide and abuse of our immigrant community members. Many of the people who signed petitions were encountered at these actions, and many have Arabic or latinx names. By questioning those names in particular, the Democrats were intentionally targeting people they assumed would not likely vote for their candidate.

Lisa Ryan, Lily Benavides’ choice for Lieutenant Governor said, “If those reviewing the petitions can’t read the name, or decide to pronounce the signature ‘invalid’ even if the printed name and the address match, it’s a ‘slap in the face’ to New Jersey’s diverse community. It’s an insult and disenfranchises our immigrant community. I seriously question those who make such pronouncements and wonder if they deserve to hold the positions they do.”

The end result, the Democrats of Morris County NJ forced Lily Benavides to drop from the ballot for the general elections by using racial profiling to invalidate a vast number of signatures. Benavides states, “Our first candidate had to quit due to health issues and as the Lt. Governor Candidate I stepped up to take his spot. We had to collect 2,000 signatures in less than a month after having collected 4,000 for the first candidate. Mr. Rajiv Parikh´s challenges indicated that people of all ages and walks of life would have to have the same EXACT signature throughout their lifetime, and applies this even to seniors who may have a hard time writing and make their signatures easier throughout the years. He further incorrectly stated that all the boxes on the petition form have to have the same handwriting and no one else can help a signer to fill out the form – a process that would leave out people with disabilities, seniors and foreign language speakers. Many of the names that were stricken were those of people who the attorney clearly assumed were Muslim or Latino, or had long, foreign names. There appeared to witnesses to be clear discriminatory practices used to question the validity of signatures.”

“He went as far as to accuse us of fraud and forgery, without proof, when he noticed that people had moved, or changed their addresses, or used their married name. He even tried to make the judge believe that some of the signatures were of people who were deceased, a few of whom are people we know personally. Now, as a poll worker I have learned of many issues with the electoral system in Morris County, where I have worked for almost 20 years. It can take years for an address change to be recorded in the system. I have witnessed people having to use a provisional ballot after two years, because their address was never changed. And the same thing happens with name changes. The inefficiency of the board of elections all across New Jersey is something that needs to be addressed, starting with the Division of Elections in Trenton. A body that has accepted signatures gathered by a collector from another state, on more than one occasion – and for the different parties running, without notification of any such “law” that prohibits that. I’ll note that we still don’t have a clear answer on their part. Such laws seem to apply only for the primaries, meaning that it wouldn’t be used against any independent party since they are not allowed on the primary ballots. In the end Judge Tama B. Hughes dismissed that general objection.”

“These are all tactics used by Democrats to defeat their contenders because they are afraid to lose to a small, old Latina with cojones and a clean conscience!” concluded Benavides.

The GPNJ will not be stopped by corruption and discrimination. They may have prevented the GPNJ from being pre-printed on the ballot. But they cannot stop voters from adding our candidates to the ballot. Our campaign will continue, and so will our fight against genocide and for our immigrant neighbors.