A New Jersey appellate court panel sided with Montclair Township petitioners on Tuesday that a municipal clerk acted arbitrarily and capriciously after she failed to reach out to voters with questionable electronic signatures, according to the court's opinion.

Weeks into closures and restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, the Township of Montclair enacted an ordinance adopting rent regulation provisions. The plaintiffs in the case—Township of Montclair Committee of Petitioners and Montclair Property Owners Association—sought to challenge the ordinance and obtained a court order tolling its effective date until the lifting of a state of emergency due to the pandemic.