Katie Castellani
State House News Service
Republican candidate for attorney general Michael Walsh can appear on September's primary ballot under a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling. Meanwhile, the fate of Anne Manning Martin's campaign for lieutenant governor is uncertain.
On Monday, SJC Justice Frank Gaziano denied the State Ballot Law Commission's appeal of an Essex County Superior Court ruling that overturned the commission's decision and reinstated Walsh's name onto the ballot.
In June, the commission sustained an objection filed by Massachusetts Democratic Party Executive Director Adam Roof alleging that Walsh had submitted fraudulent nomination signatures and did not have the required 10,000 certified signatures to get on the ballot. Walsh then appealed that decision in Essex County Superior Court.
On Friday, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp decided that "despite substantial evidence in the record of voter fraud" the commission lacked jurisdiction to consider Roof's complaint because he failed to comply with a requirement to submit the objection via certified mail. The commission then appealed that decision and stood by its original ruling to disqualify Walsh from the ballot.
In a nine-page ruling on the commission's appeal of Karp's decision, Gaziano agreed that failing to comply with the certified mailing requirement invalidated Roof's objection.
"We'd like to thank Justice Gaziano for ensuring the voters have a choice in November," Walsh said by email in a statement at the request of the News Service.
Attorneys for the commission did not immediately respond to the News Service's request for comment on the ruling.
Steve Kerrigan, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, condemned the decision, calling it "perverse and bizarre."
"Republican Attorney General Candidate Michael Walsh will qualify for the primary ballot this September despite evidence of clear and widespread signature fraud. This is a perverse and bizarre result, and is an affront to the thousands of people whose names and addresses were used without their knowledge or consent," Kerrigan said in a statement. "Walsh knowingly submitted more than a thousand fraudulent signatures and they will be counted because of a clerical error. This case was never about whether the fraud happened. It was about whether a clerical error could let Walsh dodge the consequences of it — and for now, it has."
Gaziano also noted that Secretary of State William Galvin's office must have a final list of candidates by Tuesday in order to prepare ballots and meet a federally mandated deadline to issue primary ballots by July 18.
"Given the extremely time-sensitive nature of this matter, as well as the legal questions raised, I deem it appropriate to exercise my discretion to reach the merits of the petition," Gaziano said in a footnote within his decision.
At the same time, Manning Martin has appealed Karp's July 10 ruling to keep her off September's primary ballot to the state's highest court. The appeal, which was filed Monday, is pending, according to the case docket.
As part of the appeal, Manning Martin's attorney and sister, Mary Ellen Manning, is asking the Supreme Judicial Court to order Galvin's office to seek a waiver from the federal deadline to issue ballots. That's so Manning Martin can "exhaust her appeal" to get her name on the ballot.
Deb O'Malley, a spokesperson for Galvin's office, said the secretary doesn't plan to seek a waiver as that would delay sending ballots to military voters and "potentially disenfranchising those who are serving overseas."
If Manning Martin's appeal fails, Shawn Oliver would be the sole Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. Oliver and Roof filed similar complaints against Manning Martin alleging that she filed fraudulent nomination signatures and didn't get the necessary 10,000 certified signatures to appear on the ballot.
In his decision, Karp upheld the commission's ruling on Oliver's complaint, finding that he complied with the mailing requirements and there was "substantial evidence" to support invalidating Manning Martin's signatures. Karp also overturned the commission's decision on Roof's objection because he did not meet the certified mailing requirements.
In the 57-page appeal, Manning contended that the commission's decision should be overturned for several reasons including that it "violated her constitutional right to ballot access," made legal errors, "ignored evidence," did not have jurisdiction over the issue and "misinterpreted the facts and the law."