"More than 2,350 working people signed up to put our campaign on the ballot, more than double the requirement," he said. "This decision is an affront to those who supported my right to be on the ballot. It is part of the many undemocratic restrictions imposed by the capitalist parties in order to keep a working-class alternative off the ballot so that the rulers' two-party shell game remains unchallenged."

Williams was notified by election officials March 22 that he was 158 signatures short of the requirement. Williams and his supporters visited the election offices to review petitions the officials said were rejected. One pile of 116 petitions--each includes one signature--was of registered voters who live in Newark but had recently moved to the city from elsewhere in the state. Another stack of more than 1,000 petitions was of those whom officials claim were not registered voters. A quick check of 50 signatures turned up four people who are registered to vote. In at least one instance, the names of 50 people in a row who signed up were simply disqualified.

Election officials denied the socialist campaign access to computer terminals where they could have quickly checked more names, and said that even if Williams could show an additional 158 qualified signatures he would have to appeal the ruling to the Board of Elections, and then overturn the drawing for ballot slots which takes place March 28.

On March 26 Williams spoke alongside other mayoral and city council candidates at a meeting sponsored by the Forest Hill Action Group, attended by 100 people.

"I explained that my fight to obtain ballot status is part of the broader struggle of working people to break from the politics of lesser evilism that is imposed on us by the capitalist rulers," said Williams. "One candidate for city council who spoke to me after the program said he opposed the ballot restrictions placed on candidates and believes that anyone who decides to run for public office should automatically be on the ballot. He told me that the city clerk had ruled 500 of his petitions as invalid. He said he would send a message to the city clerk defending my right to be on the ballot. Another city council candidate said she also supported my right to appear on the ballot.

"A supporter of Cory Booker, the major bourgeois candidate challenging Mayor Sharpe James, approached me after the meeting. He said he agreed with my opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan and that he would send a note to the city clerk opposing my exclusion from the ballot."  
 
Statement of protest
The socialist campaign has issued a statement of protest to the city clerk and Board of Elections. "We are demanding to be placed on the ballot and to be included in the March 28 drawing for ballot slots," Williams said.

In turning in his petitions at City Hall March 21, the socialist candidate was accompanied by Moses Williams, a hospital worker and one of his campaign managers, who remarked, "This is a chance to get a working-class message out. To raise the consciousness of working people. Consciousness is very important. That's one of the reasons I support this campaign."

A member of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199J, Moses Williams said he joined the socialist campaign because "it's another way to expose the Democrats and Republicans for the sham they are. For them after the election is over it's business as usual. That's why running as a socialist is to be encouraged. The vast majority of working people gain absolutely nothing from these elections."

During the effort to collect the petitions the mayoral candidate met another member of SEIU Local 1199, Linda Boykin, who works at a nursing home. At her invitation Williams spoke at a candlelight vigil organized by 1199 New Jersey. On March 14 the union held rallies at 17 nursing homes around the state as part of a fight for higher wages and the hiring of more staff.

In his speech, Williams told participants about Michael Italie, a garment worker who was fired for his political views by bosses at Goodwill Industries during his campaign as the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Miami. When Williams mentioned how the employers at Goodwill attempt to pay workers below minimum wage, someone in the crowd yelled out, "slave wages!"

Boykin told Williams that because "of the low wages I get paid I work overtime every week--two double shifts a week, 16 hours a day--to pay my rent. I'm tired all the time and a lot of the women who work with me are doing the same thing. I have no time to spend with my family. If I was paid more I wouldn't have to work all this overtime."

Williams said the socialist campaign is fighting for the labor movement to demand that the minimum wage be raised to a livable level. "This needs to be universal, and would have the effect over time of raising all wages," he said. "Labor must also demand a shorter workweek with no cut in pay, binding on all employers as federal law. This would help spread around the available work."

In addition to the low wages workers receive from the employers, they also face an official unemployment rate of 8.1 percent. "My campaign advocates a government-funded public works program with pay rates at union scale to rebuild housing, schools, hospitals, libraries, and other parts of the city's crumbling infrastructure," Williams said. "We fight for an expansion of Social Security to be a government-funded entitlement covering health care, old age pensions, and disability coverage for all, from the cradle to the grave."  
 
 
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