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.
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.
