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Ross v. State Board of Elections6/23/2005
Bell, C.J. Raker Wilner Cathell Harrell Battaglia Greene, JJ.
Bell, C.J. and Raker, J., dissent.
This matter arises out of the 2004 General Election for the Thirteenth Councilmanic District seat on the Baltimore City Council in which Paula Johnson Branch was the Democratic Party candidate and victor in the election, and Glenn L. Ross was the Green Party candidate and individual who, after the election, challenged Branch's qualifications to be on the ballot. We are presented with the question of the applicability of Maryland Code (2002), Sections 9-209 and 12-202 of the Election Law Article, which provide for judicial challenges to aspects of the election process. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City granted the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the Respondents, the State Board of Elections and Ms. Branch, based on Petitioner Ross's failure to comply with the time limitations of Section 9-209 of the Election Law Article. We find that the Circuit Court erroneously relied upon Section 9-209 as it does not govern challenges to a candidate's qualifications to appear on the ballot. Because Ross's petition was untimely and thus, as a matter of law, barred by laches, we will uphold the Circuit Court's entry of summary judgment.
Background
Facts
The undisputed material facts of this case are as follows. Ms. Paula Johnson Branch filed a certificate of candidacy to run in the election for the Thirteenth Councilmanic District in Baltimore City on June 30, 2003, and in September of 2003, she won the Democratic Primary Election. Throughout 2003 and 2004, two campaign finance entities raising funds for Branch's campaign repeatedly failed to file the campaign finance reports required under Section 13-304 of the Election Law Article and received Show Cause notices from the State Board for these oversights.
On October 13, 2004, the Baltimore Sun ran an article titled, "Welch Critics Seeking to Remove Veteran Councilwoman From Ballot; Son Pleaded Guilty in June to Filing False Finance Reports," which mentioned that a committee supporting Branch was delinquent in its filings and that Ross, as the Green Party candidate, was raising it as an issue in the campaign. Laura Vozzella, Welch Critics Seeking to Remove Veteran Councilwoman From Ballot; Son Pleaded Guilty in June to Filing False Finance Reports, Balt. Sun, Oct. 13, 2004, at 1B. On October 22, 2004, Ross's campaign contacted the State Board via e-mail and requested that the Board discuss at its next meeting on October 26th, Branch's disqualification under Section 13-332 of the Election Law Article for the failure of the two campaign finance entities to comply with the reporting requirements of the Campaign Finance Title of the Election Law Article .
On October 26, 2004, the State Board considered the request that Branch be disqualified from being a candidate, but declined to rule. Mr. Giles W. Burger, Chairman of the State Board of Elections, stated:
I'm not going to make any statements that should somehow jeopardize the candidacies for next week. And if that disappoints the petitioners, I'm sorry about that , but I think that that is the right decision.
I want to thank you for coming, and as my colleagues said, we are interested in this issue. We'll take it up later. My only suggestion is to petition the General Assembly, perhaps take this up in the courts. But we are going to let stand the candidacies for the moment for this election.
Branch remained on the ballot and won the General Election on November 2, 2004 with 79.79% of the vote as compared to Ross's 12.22% of the vote. On November 5, 2004, Ross filed a petition for "Immediate Injun
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