Not so fast.What matters is that the people of NJ get to elect their own Governor, whether some arbitrary deadline is completely blown or not.
That's what the Supreme Court of NJ said in '02 (well, what it really said is that the Democrats of NJ were entitled to a candidate on the ballot who had good poll numbers).
Sue NJ for a Republican candidate with good poll numbers on the ballot Nov 2 to replace an outgoing governor. Deadlines? We don't need to meet no stinkin' deadlines!
However, the replacement for the governor is in the state constitution. Was the procedure for replacement in the state constution or was it just state law? Of course, the NJSC could say that it is all moot because the office is not vacant.