ultimately, the justices ruled unanimously to allow the ballot replacement. peter verniero, a republican appointed by christine todd whitman, wrote that the statute in question "does not preclude the possibility of a vacancy occurring within 51 days of the election." he also wrote, "we see what advantage this has for mr. forrester; we fail to see what advantage this has for the people of new jersey." in deciding to interpret the deadline as it did, the court cited "kilmurray v. gilbert", 10 n.j. 435 (1952) and "catania v. haberle", 123 n.j. 438. the democrats were ordered to cover the extra costs incurred to the state.