Mass. high court bars GOP lieutenant governor candidate from ballot amid ‘overwhelming evidence’ of fraud

A justice on the state’s highest court on Tuesday barred a Republican lieutenant governor candidate from appearing on her party’s primary ballot, saying he agreed with a lower court ruling that there was “substantial, if not overwhelming evidence” that her campaign submitted fraudulent voter signatures in order to qualify.

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In an eight-page decision Tuesday, Supreme Judicial Court Justice Frank M. Gaziano upheld a State Ballot Law Commission decision blocking Anne Manning Martin from the September ballot. The commission said Manning Martin’s campaign turned in hundreds of signatures that were likely written by the same person and mirrored those submitted by Michael Walsh, a Republican attorney general candidate, who, in a separate SJC decision, was allowed to appear on the GOP ballot.

“In short, there was substantial evidence to support the SBLC’s decision to strike 1,279 signatures within Manning Martin’s nomination papers, and the petitioner has not demonstrated that she is entitled to relief,” Gaziano wrote in his ruling.

An attorney representing Manning Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Deb O’Malley, a spokesperson for Secretary of State William F. Galvin, confirmed that Manning Martin’s “name will not be printed” on the Republican state primary ballot for lieutenant governor.

Gaziano’s ruling comes a day after he reinstated Walsh to the ballot despite “substantial evidence” the Lynnfield Republican’s campaign also submitted fake signatures.

The difference in the decisions for Walsh and Manning Martin came down to the mail.

Multiple judges found that Adam Roof, the state Democratic Party official who challenged both Walsh and Manning Martin’s place on the ballot, did not correctly submit his objection. State law requires it to be sent via registered or certified mail; he instead sent it by email and through first-class mail.

But Manning Martin also had her signatures challenged by Shawn Oliver, another Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who is running alongside gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve. Gaziano wrote Tuesday that there was enough evidence that Oliver’s legal assistant had mailed the objection by certified mail, including the existence of a so-called “green card” — or return receipt — “memorializing proof of delivery.”

Manning Martin argued that Oliver did not provide her with a list of all the signatures he was challenging. But Gaziano said a document provided by Oliver containing the page and line of each challenged signature, as well as the basis for the challenge, was sufficient.

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Manning Martin had previously appealed the state commission’s ruling in Essex County Superior Court, but lost that bid, too, after two days of hearings.

Shortsleeve said Oliver “followed the rules” when submitting his challenge.

“I am proud to stand tall with Shawn Oliver to fight for election integrity,” Shortsleeve said outside the State House on Tuesday. “Signature fraud is wrong anywhere it occurs.”

In interviews with the Globe, a dozen people whose signatures appeared on Manning Martin and Walsh’s nomination papers said they did not sign the sheets.

District attorneys in Norfolk and Plymouth counties have launched investigations in the wake of the signature fraud allegations.

When pressed on alleged fraud involving her campaign’s signatures, Manning Martin’s lawyer has repeatedly said no voters were brought before the state commission to verify that their signatures were forged. Walsh has denied the fraud allegations, but when asked earlier this month whether he submitted fake signatures, he said, “I don’t think so.”

Shortsleeve, who donated $1,000 to Walsh in February, demurred Tuesday when asked whether Walsh, too, should be allowed on the ballot amid the fraud allegations. He said he didn’t follow Walsh’s case “closely,” and said he donated to the Republican because the incumbent, Democrat Andrea Campbell, “has to go.”

“I can tell you there’s an active, open investigation,” he said of the fraud accusations. “We’re going to continue to watch it carefully, and everyone who is involved in signature fraud should be held accountable.”

The fraud allegations in both Manning Martin and Walsh’s cases center on the work of Joe Bronske, a signature gatherer hired by the two campaigns.

In court documents, an attorney for the state commission accused Bronske of engaging “in a systematic — although ultimately obvious and easily detected — fraud” by forging signatures to help Manning Martin and Walsh qualify for the primary ballot.

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Kelly Garrity of the Globe staff contributed reporting.