The Executive Board of the College Democrats of New Jersey writes to address allegations made by the leadership of four state federation chapters on April 2nd, 2026.

To begin, the Executive Board condemns the spread of false allegations and the publicization of personal information intended to jeopardize the reputation, safety, and integrity of our organization and its members. These actions reflect a pattern of bad-faith escalation that undermines the mission of and democratic norms within our organization. Throughout this process, we, the Executive Board, acted in good faith and within the bounds of our bylaws in responding to an absentee ballot dispute.

On February 28th, 2026, the College Democrats of New Jersey (CDNJ) held their annual convention, where they endorsed candidates and elected the new Executive Board. As per the Election Rules, voting was conducted in person, and the results of each race were announced on the same day. On March 2nd, after the election, two members of the newly elected Executive Board were made aware of a concern from one chapter president regarding an absentee ballot request.

The member in question had reached out informally, with no written record, to a member of the previous Executive Board requesting an absentee ballot for a valid reason, only to be told that no absentee ballots would be issued. This response was given without adequately informing the other previous Executive Board members, as confirmed by multiple former Executive Board members. This was in contrast to the required guidelines of our organization’s bylaws. Upon learning of this issue, the new Executive Board promptly set up a meeting on March 3rd with the chapter president, the CDNJ president, and the new membership director. The meeting resulted in an agreement that the concern would be brought to the entire Executive Board.

This led to a meeting with the entire Executive Board on March 6th, during which the absentee ballot request was reviewed to ensure compliance with the CDNJ Bylaws. We were able to verify at this time with independent sources that no other member had requested an absentee ballot prior to the convention, and that the member in question had requested the absentee ballot for herself alone, something agreed upon during this meeting. The requester repeatedly stressed, unprompted, that this was about one vote and one person. There was no misunderstanding about what was being requested. The meeting was followed by an email from the Executive Board that forwarded voting links to the individual. The results of these ballots were made available only to the two members of the previous Executive Board who oversaw the election, as well as to two members of the current Executive Board. It is important to clarify that the president and political director were not given access to these results.

On March 9th, 2026, the individual requester responded to the Executive Board’s email that four total votes had been cast on behalf of the chapter and that they understood these votes may change the outcome of one of the elections. The Executive Board responded that the additional three votes, unfortunately, could not be accepted, in accordance with CDNJ Bylaws, which require absentee ballot requests to come prior to the convention. Had there been a request made on behalf of all four members prior to the convention, we would have granted the request for all four people to receive an absentee ballot. However, they did not, and as such, we communicated that the additional three votes could unfortunately not be counted.

Following this decision, the requester requested another meeting with the Executive Board, which occurred on March 13th and culminated in an agreement to meet again with the requester and members of that chapter’s executive board. Later in the day, communication between a second chapter involved in the matter explained that an email would be sent on their behalf requesting a meeting with the board, stating, “you'll be getting emails from me”. Members of the Executive Board held individual conversations with the various parties involved, but did not receive any meeting request until March 23rd, when four chapters asked to meet collectively with the Executive Board.

In this email communication, the four chapters denied proposed attempts at third party mediation through neutral parties in our parent organization, stating that mediation would extend the time needed to resolve the situation, additionally saying “Do we really want to go and recollect, screenshots, and, you know, count on all of our memories with past conversations, go over emails, and fill, [the] mediator, all the way in[?]”. Regardless of the denial for mediation, the Executive Board met with four chapter representatives on Sunday, March 29th. In this meeting, several things were disputed, including the definition of the word “ballot” as a singular vote versus as a “device” used for voting. The debate extended over whether or not the original requester had been asking for a ballot on behalf of the chapter, despite this contradicting direct communication from the meeting on March 6th. Additionally, as the parties involved know, CDNJ elections are not conducted by chapter vote but by individual vote.

All decisions were conducted through Executive Board votes, and all communication was collaborative. The personal attacks and smear that have occurred follow a completely inaccurate and coercive attempt to change the executive decision of the board. This is also supported by the witnessed harassment faced by multiple members of the Executive Board throughout the last month.

It is irresponsible and unreasonable to call for accountability by releasing multiple members’ personal information, including their full legal names and the schools they attend, in an attempt to coerce them via an inaccuracy-riddled press release, especially when its authors refuse to associate their own names with it and remain anonymous.

As directly stated by the president of the Rutgers Democrats chapter, “The article contains statements attributed to several members of the CDNJ board which are outright fabrications meant to degrade their character. In particular, the article attributes Islamophobic quotes to the President and Political Director which have no source, and which anyone who knows Alice and Juliette can attest are not characteristic of them. As elected representatives of CDNJ, the members of the board went out of their way to work on behalf of their fellow students. In attempting to resolve a dispute which they had no hand in inciting, they were met with personal attacks and defamation of their character.”

As reiterated and communicated to all chapters involved, disaffiliation is not something CDNJ ever wants to see. We have been working on a new absentee ballot request process for the last month and have invited all four chapters to be a part of that process. Furthermore, we had offered to represent American Muslim voices in alternative ways, such as lobbying for legislation that would positively impact Muslim communities and establishing a Muslim caucus within CDNJ. We value the work and passion of each and every individual who has been involved in this concern, and we have offered many opportunities for the four chapters to become directly involved in making procedural changes to prevent these concerns from recurring.

We would also like to take the time to discuss something else. CDNJ does not allow or tolerate harassment of any kind. Threatening phone calls, physical intimidation, and verbal harassment have no place in any organization, let alone one whose membership is as diverse and wide-reaching as ours. We have been and will continue to take all appropriate action to stop this defamation, ensure the safety of everyone who interacts with CDNJ, and prevent this from happening again. Should continued harassment or spread of false claims continue, legal action will be taken to protect our organization and its members.

This press release is signed by the Executive Board of the College Democrats of New Jersey
Alice Merolli, Eric Silverman, Ian Mann, Juliette Madea, Ania Kicinska