After a hearing at Lowell City Hall Wednesday night, is the fight over nomination signatures between Kim Scott and Sherri Barboza heading to Middlesex County Superior Court for round two?
Shortly after disqualifying one of Barboza’s nomination signatures earlier in the proceedings, the city’s Election Commission voted 3-2 last night to allow a signature listing a post office box as the voter’s address to stand, keeping the challenger on the November ballot against Scott. Barboza had turned in 151-names at the July 22 deadline, just above the 150-minimum requirement.
Last night’s hearing was also marked by a moment of confusion, with the signature in question initially being announced as “invalid” after the 3-2 vote. However, it was then clarified that Commissioner James Pope had actually said “valid,” not invalid as initially tabulated.
Pope, a veteran of the Dominik Lay-Election Commission case back in 2021, was joined by William Murphy and Candace Lawrence in voting to allow the signature to stand. Commissioner Lynda Clark joined City Solicitor Corey Williams in voting against it.
Neither Scott nor Barboza responded to requests for comment, however Scott did leave a comment late last night on an InsideLowell Facebook post from earlier in the week.
“They denied the same two PO Boxes on her School Committee papers, and then accepted and denied the same PO Box on her City Council papers,” Scott replied to the comment from one of our followers. “They just voted to allow the one to remain. Go figure.”
InsideLowell has learned, however, that Scott is weighing her option to appeal the ruling on the basis of state law that a P.O. box is not a valid address for voter registration or nomination paperwork.
Should that appeal be filed, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 56, Section 59 indicates the Supreme Judicial Court and Superior Court have jurisdiction in the matter. Most likely, the case would head to Superior Court, as the Lay legal battle against the city in 2021 did.
Stay with InsideLowell for the latest, as this situation develops. Greg Pappas, former Lowell Elections Director and Elections Official for Secretary of State Bill Galvin, will be our guest on the upcoming, August 25 edition of the Daily Pulse to discuss the dispute and election law as it relates to this case.
One response to “Round 1 to Barboza. Round 2 in Superior Court?”
Why should the election commissioners be consistent?
Why should they bother listening to their lawyer?
It costs too much money to go to court, and they don’t have to pay even when the court says they are wrong.
Time to get rid of the scofflaws and scoundrels who abuse their position.