BOSTON (Legal Newsline) —The Massachusetts Supreme Court ordered the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office to make several temporary changes involving candidates who are requesting to be on the state's primary ballot due to COVID-19.
"We emphasize that the declaration we make and the equitable relief we provide is limited to the primary election in these extraordinary circumstances, which is the sole subject of the case before us, and does not affect the minimum signature requirements for the general election this year or for the primary elections in any other year," Chief Justice Ralph Gants wrote in the April 16 opinion
Justices Barbara Lenk, Frank Gaziano, David Lowy, Kimberly Budd, Elspeth Cypher and Scott Kafker agreed with Gants. Kafker wrote a concurring opinion separately.
Robert Goldstein, Kevin O'Connor and Melissa Bower Smith are seeking offices and brought the petition before a county court asking for changes to be made to the signature law so that they can be placed on the primary ballot for the June 1 primary election, the opinion states.
Each of the plaintiffs argued that because of the novel coronavirus, the signature requirements have put a major burden on them because they are unable to go out and collect "wet" signatures. They asked that the minimum signature requirements for the primary either be eliminated, reduced or be allowed to be collected electronically.
The Supreme Court ordered three forms of relief for the candidates.
"First, we order that the number of required signatures be reduced by fifty percent," Gants wrote. "Second, we extend the deadlines for candidates running for State district and county offices to submit their nomination papers to local election officials for certification and for the filing of certified nomination papers with the Secretary to May 5, 2020, and June 2, 2020, respectively, which are the current due dates for party candidates running for Federal and Statewide offices."
Lastly, the court ordered the Secretary of the Commonwealth to also allow submissions in electronic form rather than "wet" signatures.
In Kafker's concurring opinion he wrote that while he agreed with the court's decision, he was concerned that the parties involved with the electoral process couldn't solve the problem themselves.
"Those responsible for our elections must have the technological tools to respond to the pandemic that confronts us, which has fundamentally changed the world as we know it, Kafker wrote. "Leaving these electoral problems for the courts to solve should be a last resort."
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Court case number: SJC-12931