Democracy Delayed

From left:  Sylvia Cuomo, Susan Lowenstein, Sandra Burgess Town Clerk, Joyce Crouch

The Amherst Board of Registrars failed to come to a decision concerning the complaint filed by long-time Amherst Town Meeting members Vince O'connor and Mary Wentworth regarding what appears to be fraudulent signatures on the nomination papers of School Committee candidate Phoebe Hazzard.

Ms. Hazzard had taken out her papers at 3:30 on the deadline day and brought them back an hour-and-a-quarter later with 65 signatures, seven of which were thrown out, leaving 58 certified.

For town wide office such as School Committee, 50 signatures of duly registered voters are required.

Red check means good, N means not registered, S means can't identify signature

The Town Clerk did point out that neither she nor the Board of Registrars are handwriting experts and they are legally bound by the notion of "apparent conformity":  If the registered voter's name matches the address then they have to certify the name, even if it's printed or looks like the same handwriting as the previous surname that also resides in the same household.

After 1.5 hours of sometimes testy testimony the Board decided to meet again on Tuesday to decide whether they will accept the challenge to the signatures and then ascertain if there is any merit to the challenge.

The Town Clerk was adamant that the Town Attorney ruled the challenge was handed in past the "two working day" deadline (by 35 minutes), and therefor the Board of Registrars would be setting a bad precedent by accepting the challenge.

 Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth present to the Board of Registrars

O'Connor and Wentworth argued the Town Clerks office was closed to the general public for a half day within that 48 hour deadline, therefor they should have had more time to file their complaint.

O'Connor repeatedly stated he wished for this matter to be handled locally by this board rather than becoming a criminal matter with the DA or an appeal in Northampton Hampshire Superior Court.  To which Board member Susan Lowenstein responded she did not like the words "fraud and criminal intent."

Saying he did not even know candidate Phoebe Hazzard, O'Connor stated he was in the Town Clerk's office when Hazzard first took out her nomination papers and still there when she returned them.  Wentworth added, "To old hands like us, it was a red flag."

Observer Rich Morse, a former prosecutor, said the board "Should not delegate this out to the town attorney.  The fundamental issue here is was there fair access over that two day period to make observations and judgements about the signatures?"

No matter what the Board of Registrars decides on Tuesday, at this point, in a town that reveres grass roots democracy, the campaign process has been tainted.

Town Clerk Handout

   Amherst Election Scandal

Election Fraud?

Complaint is addresses look like handiwork of same person

The Board of Registrars will meet on Friday morning to decide whether to take up discussion of a complaint filed by Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth regarding signatures collected on the nomination papers for School Committee candidate Phoebe Hazzard.

Ms Hazzard took out her papers only an hour-and-a-half before filing deadline, and then returned them 15 minutes before the drop dead deadline with 65 signatures.

The Town Clerk did disallow 7 of the signatures because the name did not match up with the address or were illegible, but did certify 58 which is 8 more than required for placement on the ballot.

The Board of Registrars met within 48 hours (February 12th) of the February 10th nomination  deadline to certify the results and choose the order of appearance for candidates on the official ballot.

Hand delivered to Board of Registrars 35 minutes past deadline

A challenge to any nomination irregularity is supposed to be filed within 48 hours.  Mr. O'Connor and Ms. Wentworth missed that deadline by 35 minutes, so the Town Clerk originally denied taking up the appeal with the Board of Registrars.

Mr. O'Connor did not take too kindly to that, so now the Town Clerk has called another meeting of the Board of Registrars, but their only decision on Friday will be whether to hear an appeal or not.

If they decide the 48 hour deadline does not apply then they will set another date to discuss the merits of the appeal.

Should enough signatures (9) be disqualified, Ms. Hazzard's name will not appear on the ballot for School Committee and that open seat will be filled by write ins.

There are two open Amherst School Committee seats and originally three candidates filed their papers by deadline.  Incumbent Lawrence O'Brien withdrew before the 48 hour time limit leaving Vira Douangmany as the only guaranteed winner at the moment.

Sorry About That Vince

Sandra Burgess (left) Vince O'Connor, Mary Wentworth (right) at 2/20/15 Hearing

Forever activists Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth used the Select Board Monday night Public Comment period to air their complaint about a challenge they filed with the Town Clerk last year concerning problematic signatures on Phoebe Hazzard's School Committee nomination papers.

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess ruled the complaint was filed a half hour after the deadline, and after two hearings the Board of Registrars agreed, thus dismissing the case.

But in researching deadlines for the Charter revision question which has now made the ballot the Town Clerk discovered she had erred and the deadline was not 48 hours after the Town Clerk's deadline for accepting nomination papers but a full two weeks later after the Board of Registrars had certified them.

Oops.

This was back in late September early October, soon after Town Manager John Musante suddenly passed away. 

After informing Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek and Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer and discovering there  is no provision in state law that covers this, she informed Mr. O'Connor of her mistake.  And Vince appeared to take it well. 

 Mary Wentworth & Vince O'Connor at the 1/11/16 Select Board meeting

But now, two months later, he appeared with Ms. Wentworth at the Select Board meeting to complain about it.  Ms. Wentworth was a tad confused saying it was the State Ethics Division who had ruled there was a violation, but that is not the case.

The mistake was discovered by the person who made the mistake and she owned up to it.  Now Mr. O'Connor and Ms. Wentworth want a public apology.

Considering what the School Committee will be deciding next week, Phoebe Hazzard probably wishes their challenge last year was successful. 

No Ballot For You

Helen Berg collecting signatures last weekend

After a brief conversation with the Town Clerk this afternoon Select Board wanna be candidate Helen Berg was satisfied with most of the names disqualified from her nomination papers, but she remained  adamant about only two of them which she will attempt to appeal to a higher authority.

Berg had handed in her papers on the final day less than an hour before deadline with 64 names.  The Town Clerk's office disqualified 16 of those names for a variety of reasons leaving her just two shy of the 50 needed.

There is no option available to appeal the Town Clerk's decision to the Board of Registrars or any other local authority other than bringing a lawsuit before a Hampshire Superior Court judge.

Last year Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth tried to have signatures thrown out from School Committee candidate Phoebe Hazzard because multiple signatures appeared to have been signed by the same person.

The Board of Registrars does get involved with a properly filed challenge/appeal over nomination signatures but does not get involved if it was the Town Clerk who threw them out.

Berg came in a distant third two years ago for Select Board and threatened a lawsuit because the Town Clerk did not put the names on the ballot alphabetically (where her name would have been first).

Turns out the town had been granted special state legislation in 1975 to allow names to appear by drawing from a hat, letting luck be the deciding factor.  That applies only to town wide contests.

The 20 Charter Commission candidates still fall under normal state guidelines, so their names will appear alphabetically on the March 29 ballot.

Just Say NO

 Amherst Board of Registrars meeting Town Hall 2:45 pm

In a little less than a half-hour the Amherst Board of Registrars came to a vote on whether to accept a challenge filed by Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth to the legality of names appearing on the nomination papers of 1st time School Committee candidate Phoebe Hazzard, who set a town record for acquiring the 50 signatures needed for a town wide office.

The vote was unanimous:  No.  In fact there was an undertone of, now go away.  

The challenge was filed 35 minutes after the "two working day" deadline imposed by state law.  The complainants argued a "working day" for Amherst Town Hall is 8.5 hours but one of those days (Thursday) Town Hall is closed to the general public in the mornings, therefor they only had 1.5 working days to file their grievance.

Board member Susan Lowenstein was the most forthright of the three asking Mr. O'Connor somewhat sternly, "Why do you see criminality and fraud?  I'm appalled this is happening!"

To which Mr. O'Connor responded, "I'm appalled the Town Clerk would accept bad signatures."

Another bystander pointed out, "Not a single person has come forward to say they didn't sign those papers.  There's the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law.  I don't see any violations of the spirit of the law."

O'Connor responded, "It encourages people to sit at home, call up their friends for permission and get signatures that way."

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess had wanted this distraction ended quickly, as the ballot for the March 31 election needs to be printed soon.