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LaPlante
Protests Election Irregularities
Issue Will go
Before Superior Court Judge
Published 10/01/00
District
"D" City Councilor Mark LaPlante was
unsuccessful in his bid to be nominated as a Republican
write in candidate for Congress. He needed 2000 write in
or sticker votes to have his name placed on the ballot,
in November. LaPlante was seeking to challenge Fifth
District Congressman Marty Meehan in the November final
election.
Though he didn’t receive the required write ins,
charges of voting irregularities by the City of Lawrence
have now given LaPlante one more shot at a legitimate
ballot position in the final election. LaPlante is
challenging the low number of write in votes he received
here in Lawrence. LaPlante is asking for a recount of all
ballots cast in the September 19th primary but says the
issue must go before a court judge, where he will ask the
court to put his name on the final ballot for a number of
reasons. These are the reasons for LaPlante’s court
challenge:
· Democratic sample ballots displayed in election booths
and polling places but no Republican ballots
· Complaints by voters that several votes were cast for
LaPlante in specific polling places, while the city hall
vote totals show far fewer votes in the final count.
· One citizen claims that a poll worker opened his
ballot envelope and looked at it before placing it in the
ballot box to be counted.
· Election workers threw away ballot envelopes which may
have contained write in or sticker votes which were
disqualified for some reason and can no longer be
recounted.
· Chargers by Independent and Unenrolled voters that
they were given a Democratic ballot when they entered the
polls, instead of being asked which party ballot they
wanted as required by law
The Lawrence election department his been mired in
scandal over the last few years, resulting in an
investigation by the U.S. Justice department. That
investigation resulting in the redistricting of school
committee positions to reflect district voting instead of
at large elections the way it is currently. The election
department also destroyed valuable voting lists from the
1997 mayoral race, first claiming that they did not
destroy the lists, then admitting the lists were
purposely destroyed but then claimed to have acted in
accordance with state laws.
Now another scandal has arisen involving ballots for
write in candidate Marc LaPlante and it is not the first
time votes were summarily discarded against a candidate
who happens to be out of favor with the Mayor’s
office. "How can a legitimate write in candidate ask
for a recount after the election when the election
department throws away part of the ballot? How is anyone
suppose to have faith in our voting system with these
consistent irregularities going on? This is my fight for
now, even if I am not placed on the ballot in November
because I do not want other candidates down the road to
go through this, and face these kind of
shenanigans." LaPlante said.
Despite the fact that Dowling supporter Israel Reyes ran
a sticker campaign on the same Republican ballot in the
primary last month, Reyes received more votes in his
small precinct than did Marc LaPlante who ran a city wide
campaign. Surprisingly there were no problems with
counting the Reyes votes at city hall but the LaPlante
votes were riddled with problems. Marc LaPlante is not
being supported by Mayor Dowling.
Even with a recount it would seem unlikely that LaPlante
would have received the required 2000 votes to have his
name placed on the November ballot, but without the
actual ballots being available for such a recount to
occur, nobody will every know for sure. That is the
argument LaPlante intends to present to a superior court
judge this month in an effort to challenge Marty Meehan
for the fifth congressional district seat.
Individual poll workers at each precinct were not to
blame as they were only following the orders of their
boss, City Clerk James McGravey. McGravey has contributed
large sums of money to Mayor Dowling’s campaign fund
over the last three years, and his wife is a Lawrence
City Attorney who rules on legal and political questions
when a dispute arises between the council and the Mayor.
Most poll workers are temporary volunteers who act
diligently and have the city’s best interest at
heart. But the precinct poll workers are no longer
allowed to count ballots when the polls close at the end
of the day. Until recently the ballot counting took place
at each polling place, ballots were then given to a
Lawrence police officer, and transported by that officer
to city hall where they would be counted again. Any
discrepancy between precinct vote totals and city hall
vote totals could easily be solved by comparing the
numbers and doing a third count. This system of checks
and balances is no longer in place.
Today the ballots are given to a police officer uncounted
at the precincts, transported to City Hall and counted in
the basement of city hall at the election department
office.
"If 700 people vote in the Republican primary,"
LaPlante told Rumbo, "then we ought to be able to
examine 700 ballot envelopes when the election is over.
We can’t do that here because this process is flawed
and the way this election department has been doing city
business is not a proper or effective way to ensure
people that their elections are fair. "
David Cumasso, chairman of the Lawrence City Republican
Committee also cried fowl after the election, "There
were sample ballots in each polling booth but they were
all Democratic ballots, no Republican ballots. How fair
is it that Independent’s and Unenrolled voters are
automatically handed a Democratic ballot when they enter
the polling booth instead of being asked which party
ballot they want? Just imagine how many votes Mr.
LaPlante would have received if this process was
conducted honestly and fairly. I know of at least one
precinct where the vote totals were much lower the they
should have been."
While political insiders are calling LaPlante’s
court challenge a long shot, his goal as a sitting city
councilor over the next year is going to be clearly
focused on changing the election procedure, and cleaning
house in the basement of city hall. LaPlante comes up for
reelection on the City Council in November of 2001.