The issue of electoral fraud just will not go away for Democrats. While President Donald Trump has focused on fraud on the macro-level, with accusations lobbed against China, Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, stories of smaller-scale fraud continue to pop up. Most of the time, Democrats are in the thick of it.
On Wednesday, Fox News and other sources broke the news that Gina LaPlaca, the former Democratic mayor of Lumberton Township, New Jersey, who continues to serve as a member of Lumberton’s township committee, was arrested alongside her husband Jason Carty for various charges, ranging from making a false statement under oath, knowingly filing a false petition, and tampering and falsifying public records.
According to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, LaPlaca and Carty submitted to the Lumberton Township Municipal Clerk several documents, including a signed affidavit stating that LaPlaca had circulated a petition for the Democratic primary election that “was signed by each of the signers thereof in his/her own writing.” Investigators dispute this claim, arguing that LaPlaca, 47, and Carty, 49, falsified names and signatures to support LaPlaca’s candidacy for the June 2026 Democratic primary for the Lumberton Township Committee. Even with the fraudulent signatures, LaPlaca would not have qualified for the primary. In total, LaPlaca finished dead last in the June election, only garnering an anemic 323 votes.
The couple has a court appearance scheduled for September 21st in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Recent years have not been kind to the former mayor. Five days before the June 3 primary vote, LaPlaca publicly alleged that men in dark suits intimidated her supporters by asking them about the truthfulness of their petition signatures. Writing on her Facebook account, LaPlaca stated, “I can’t believe these kind of tactics have come to Lumberton, but I guess if someone is that scared of me winning, I must be doing something right.”
Last year, on Saint Patrick’s Day, LaPlaca made national news after she was arrested for driving drunk while her young son was in the car. LaPlaca’s Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) at the time of arrest was .3, almost four times the legal limit. LaPlaca, while still serving as mayor, plead guilty to charges of DUI and child endangerment, but, because she was a first-time offender, her sentence was reduced, and she was enrolled in an intervention program for substance abusers.
Then, in the lead-up to this year’s primary election in Lumberton Township, LaPlaca reacquainted herself with the police once again by accusing Carty of aggravated assault. The former mayor told police that Carty had attempted to strangle her during an early morning assault inside of their home. Carty was charged with aggravated assault by strangulation and harassment with the intent to cause alarm and was removed from the home. As for LaPlaca, responding officers indicated that she smelled like alcohol, but the former mayor refuted this, claiming that a mixture of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications, plus the fact that she’s “not a morning person,” was the source of her odd behavior.
