Blue Laws Ballot Question Faces Doubts

The Bergen County Clerk’s Office says a group that announced last month it collected enough signatures to get a referendum to overturn the Blue Laws is actually thousands of signatures away from the amount required for a ballot question.

Modernize Bergen County, which opposes the county’s Sunday shopping restrictions, said it had met the 2,500 required signatures for the November ballot. Clerk John Hogan, however, told northjersey.com Thursday that the group in fact needed 55,000 signatures.

Conflicting reports have emerged over how many signatures are needed, with differing numbers reportedly coming from officials, statutes and the group’s attorney.

"We think we're on firm legal grounds,” Hogan said in the report. “If anyone challenges that, of course, the judge will have the final say.”

Rosemary Shashoua, of Westwood, and fellow Modernize Bergen County members have been holding signature drives around the area with the belief they needed a minimum of 2,500 names for a ballot question.

Previous referendums to repeal the laws were defeated 192,394 to 157,648 in 1980 and 185,821 to 105,040 in 1993.