A Republican state attorney general candidate is back on the ballot after winning his appeal to the State Ballot Law Commission, but a fellow Republican candidate for lieutenant governor’s own appeal wasn’t as successful.
Michael Walsh won his challenge to the ruling last month by the SBLC and remains the sole challenger to incumbent Democratic AG Andrea Campbell. A Superior Court judge ruled the commission lacked jurisdiction to hear his case, and that the Massachusetts Democratic Party, represented by plaintiff Adam Roof, failed to meet state notice and service requirements to inform Walsh of his case against him.
“This matter has brought this Court to the intersection of serious, credible allegations of voter signature fraud and the Rule of Law. As is fully explained below, despite substantial evidence in the record of signature fraud, the Court is constrained to rule that the SBLC lacked jurisdiction to hear Roof’s objection,” Essex Superior Court Associate Justice Jeffrey Karp wrote in his Friday decision.
“Accordingly, the Court must ALLOW the Motion, DENY the Cross-Motion, REVERSE the Decision, and VACATE the SBLC’s order barring Walsh’s name from appearing on the Ballot,” he said.
The ruling follows SBLC hearings in June as the result of the two GOP candidates allegedly falling victim to a signature collection fraud scheme. They were originally found to have thousands of signatures between the two of dead or other ineligible voters as well as hundreds of names in the exact same order on both of their voter lists.
In its ruling, the SBLC found that while both Walsh and Manning Martin submitted the required 10,000 signatures by the state deadline, they both had enough signatures that could not be certified to put them below this benchmark. Manning Martin was found to have 1,279 bad signatures out of the 10,662 she submitted, while Walsh was found to have 1,021 bad signatures out of the 10,677 he submitted.
“The Democrats and their friends on this unelected board thought they could pick the Republican nominee for the voters. They broke their own rules to do it and a judge just threw it out. This is exactly the rigged, insider game people are sick of,” the Walsh campaign said in a statement following the court ruling. “Elections are decided at the ballot box, not by politicians and appointed bureaucrats. They lost. The voters won. And now we have an election to win.”
Meanwhile, Republican candidate for Lt. Gov. Anne Manning Martin will remain off the ballot. Her signatures had been challenged in a joint effort by fellow GOP lieutenant governor candidate Shawn Olliver and MassDems. The judge ruled that Oliver had met state requirements.
The challenge, Karp wrote in his order, “is supported by substantial evidence; and, is absent error … of law, arbitrariness, capriciousness, and abuse of discretion. Therefore, the SBLC’s decision to sustain the Oliver Objection must be AFFIRMED.”
With the deadline for the official ballots to be finalized falling on Tuesday, Judge Karp stated that a more detailed memorandum backing up his decision will be issued on Monday.
“The MassGOP is thrilled that justice prevailed today with the reinstatement of Michael Walsh as the Republican nominee for Massachusetts Attorney General. At the same time, we are disappointed that the appeal by Anne Manning Martin was denied,” said MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale. “Voters deserve contested races, real choices, and confidence that election laws will be applied fairly and consistently.”
Oliver received heavy criticism from leadership of the Massachusetts Republican Party, specifically Carnevale, for consolidating his case with MassDems in order to get Manning Martin off the ballot. RNC Committeeman and woman Brad Wyatt and Janet Fogarty also publicly blasted Oliver and his running-mate Brian Shortsleeve.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue also issued a statement, calling it “unfathomable” for Oliver and Shortsleeve to work with the opposing party to disqualify a fellow Republican.
Shortsleeve and Oliver released a joint statement Friday applauding Karp’s decision and promised to continue fighting for election integrity.
“Election integrity is essential to confidence in our democracy. The court’s decision today reconfirms that submitting fraudulent signatures to illegitimately obtain ballot access is a gross violation of the law and compromises the integrity of our elections,” Shortsleeve and Oliver told the Herald. “It is unfortunate that Mike Minogue defended this election fraud, but the Shortsleeve-Oliver ticket will always stand strong for secure and fair elections whether that is during the ballot access process or in support of voter ID at the polls.”
Manning Martin tells the Herald she will be appealing Judge Karp’s decision to a single justice at the Supreme Judicial Court.
The Republican signature snafu all started when fellow failed GOP Lt. Gov. candidate Anne Brensley said that she had been defrauded by Republican consultant Joe Bronske. Her campaign called him a “Republican insider” who they believe participated in “the largest electoral fraud scandal” in state history.
Bronske collected signatures for Brensley, Walsh and Manning Martin primarily on the South Shore and Metro South areas, including Weymouth, Hanover, Braintree, Rockland and Easton.
Original article
Comments