March 31 was the deadline for candidates in this year’s primary to submit a petition in New Jersey. In the 7th U.S. House district, no Democrat succeeded in getting on the ballot. The law requires 200 signatures of registered party members. The only Democrat who tried, Janice Kovach, says the failure was due to a miscommunication. See this story.

Democrats can nominate someone at their June 3 primary by write-in vote. The winner must not only outpoll all other write-in candidates, but must obtain at least 200 write-in votes.

In the November 2012 election, the vote in this district was: Leonard Lance, Republican, 175,662; Upendra Chivukula, Democrat, 123,057; Dennis Breen, Independent Reform, 4,518; Patrick McKnight, Libertarian, 4,078. The district is in northern New Jersey and runs from the Delaware River to some outer suburbs of New York city. Thanks to William Fenwick for the link.