Accessible Version of PDF: 22-1-Objection
State Ballot Law Commission Docket No. 22-1
Objector: CATHY M. DWYER,
Respondent: PAUL STANLEY SARNOWSKI
Objection
Objection to the qualifications of Paul Stanley Sarnowski for the Republican Party nomination for Representative of the 19th Middlesex District
Introduction
The Respondent, Paul Stanley Sarnowski ("the Respondent"), has submitted sufficient certified signatures to the Office of the Secretary of State to be listed on the ballot as a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for State Representative for the 19th Middlesex District. Although the Respondent apparently has submitted sufficient signatures to be certified as a candidate on the Republican Party primary ballot, he has not resided in the district a sufficient amount of time to meet the constitutional requirements fo relection to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 19th Middlesex District. As a result, the Respondent's name should not appear on the September primary ballot.
Jurisdiction
The Respondent, Paul Stanley Sarnowski ("the Respondent"), has submitted sufficient certified signatures to the Office of the Secretary of State to be listed on the ballot as a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for State Representative for the 19th Middlesex District. Although the Respondent apparently has submitted sufficient signatures to be certified as a candidate on the Republican Party primary ballot, he has not resided in the district a sufficient amount of time to meet the constitutional requirements fo relection to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 19th Middlesex District. As a result, the Respondent's name should not appear on the September primary ballot.
Standing
Objector Cathy M. Dwyer ("the Objector") resides at 64 Apache Way, Tewksbury, Wilmington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The Objector is a registered voter in the 19th Middlesex District, the district in which the Respondent is seeking election as State Representative.
Statement of Facts
- Pursuant to the Massachusetts Constitution, no one may be elected to the position of State Representative unless that person was an inhabitant of the district in which the person seeks the office unless that person was an inhabitant of that district for at least one year preceding the election.
- Because the election for State Representative in the 19th Middlesex District will take place on November 8, 2022, no person is eligible to be a candidate for State Representative on the September 2022 primary ballot or otherwise, unless that person was continuously a resident of the 19th Middlesex District since November 9, 2021.
- The Respondent purchased his current residence at 2 Judith Road, in Wilmington, in the 19th Middlesex District on December 1, 2021, and, on information and belief, moved into that property as well as Wilmington at the same time.
- The Respondent initially submitted signatures to be listed on the ballot for the Board of Selectman in the Wilmington election on April 23, 2022, but he unexpectedly withdrew his candidacy.
- Respondent timely filed nomination papers for the Republican Primary Election for State Representative in the 19th Middlesex District prior to the statutory deadline of May 31, 2022.
Argument
The legal requirements to run for the office of State Representative in Massachusetts is governed by the Massachusetts State Constitution. See Mass. Const. Amend. Art. 101, § 1 (''Every representative, for one year at least immediately preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of the district for which he is chosen").
It has long been established that an inhabitant of a district is necessarily a resident of that district. See, e.g., Bigney v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, 301 Mass. 107, 108 {1938); Blanchard v. Stearns, 46 Mass. 298, 303-304 (1842); Williams v. Whiting, 11 Mass. 424, 427 {1814). The word "reside," as it appears in the constitutional and statutory provisions relating to voter qualification, has long been
construed to require that the voter have his or her "domicil" in the appropriate city or town. See Hershkoff v. Registrars of Voters of Worcester, 366 Mass. 570, 576 (1974). Every person must have a domicil, and every person can have only one domicil at a time, at least for the same purpose. See Dane v. Board of Registers of Concord, 374 Mass. 152, 161 (1978). A person's dornicil is usually the place where he or she has a home, and home is the place where a person dwells, the place which is the center of his or her domestic, social, and civil life. See id. at 161-162. A change of domicil takes place when a person with the capacity to change domicil is physically present in a place and intends to make that place home for the time at least. See Hershkoff, 366 Mass. at 576-577. "The fact and the intent must concur." Id. at 577. Domicil has been said to be the place of one's actual residence with intention to remain permanently or for an indefinite time and without any certain purpose to return to a former place of abode. See Opinion of the Justices, 365 Mass . 661, 663 (1974) .
It is important to note the Onjector is not asking 0the Commission to exercise some nebulous equitable remedy but is, insitead, asking the Cmmission to properly carry out its obligation to sdetermine whether the respondent is cositutionally qualified to be on the ballot as a candidate for State Representative. See G.L. c. 55B, $5. It is a constitutional requirement that the Respondent had to have a domicile in the 19th Middlesex District for one year before the date of the final election for the position before he could be a qualified candidate for that office, and his purchase of a residence in Wilmington eleven months before the election is not sufficient to meet that constitutional requirement. Because the Respondent fails to meet that requirement, he is not constitutionally qualified to be a candidate for State Representative in the 19h Middlesex District.
Conclusion
FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS, and based on additional evidence to be submitted at a hearing before the Commission, the Objector respectfully requests that the Commission instruct the Secretary of the Commonwealth not to place the Respondent's name on the Republican ballot for State Representative in the Primary Election in the 19h Middlesex District.
Respectfully Submitted,
CATHY M. DWUER,
By her Attorney,
/s/ Gerald A. McDonough
Gerald A. McDonough, BBO # 559802
Hollis Street
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 529-1527
gerry@gmcdonoughlaw.com
Dated: June 2, 2022
Certificate of Service
I hereby certify on this 2nd day of June 2022 that, upon the filing of this document, a true copy will be served on Respondent Paul Stanley Sarnowski, by certified mail at Respondent's address: 2 Judit h Road, Wilmington, MA 01887.
/s/ Gerald A. McDonough
Gerald A. McDonough
