House 80 ballot under fire
Fuller plea claims absentee vote error
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
MANCHESTER — Town officials here are defending their election procedures in the wake of a petition House District 80 candidate Elaine Fuller sent to the House clerk this week claiming the town sent an absentee ballot to the wrong address.
The petition asks that legislators allow another District 80 vote because former Manchester resident Brad Ronco said he would have cast his ballot in favor of Fuller had he received it at his home in Portland before the Nov. 5 election.
Ronco's vote would have tied the election, which currently has Republican Stan Moody in the lead by one vote — 2,156 to 2,155. Moody was provisionally sworn into office Dec. 4.
The petition brings up the issue of what qualifies as a voter's town of residence and questions whether the town of Manchester made a clerical error when mailing Ronco's ballot.
"Obviously I hope the matter gets settled once and for all," Fuller said Thursday. "A one-vote margin is very troubling."
Joseph Kozak, chairman of Manchester's Selectmen, said he is disheartened by Fuller's petition.
He said the document ignored crucial information, including Ronco's decision to ultimately register and vote in Portland.
"To go to the Legislature with a petition like that without taking even the most cursory review of the facts into consideration and the implications it had for our town was disturbing," Kozak said.
Fuller said she did not intend to mar the public's perception of Manchester's ability to run a fair election.
"I don't think anybody's saying that anybody did a bad job running the election. I just think it was an error," Fuller said.
She said she wasn't sure whether Ronco's ballot or the question of his legitimacy as a Manchester resident would affect the validity of her petition.
Ronco, who formerly headed Manchester's Planning Board, moved to Portland in the last year and still owns property on Kerns Hill Road. He works in Augusta.
He said he wanted to cast a ballot in Manchester one last time before changing his voter registration to Portland.
"I have a sense of connection to that community," Ronco said. "It's not easy for me to make that change to another community."
According to state statute, a voter's residence is "the place where the person has established a fixed and principal home to which the person, whenever temporarily absent, intends to return."
Marilyn Palmer, Manchester's town clerk, said her office interprets that to mean "wherever you lay your head at night."
For Ronco that would mean Portland. But he disagrees.
"In terms of voting, (residence) is where you (the voter) say it is," he said.
When he did not receive his absentee ballot, he decided to register and vote in Portland.
Ronco said he later discovered the ballot had been sent to the Kerns Hill Road address.
Palmer said she is certain Ronco asked that the ballot be sent there. Her records show Ronco's ballot went out Oct. 30, the same day his request came to the office.
"This person that supposedly requested a ballot was sent a ballot where he was requesting it be sent. It's not my obligation or worry about if he picks it up," Palmer said.
Information about which address Ronco actually requested is sealed with the ballots and cannot be reviewed.
The eight-member House Committee on Elections met Tuesday to discuss how or whether to consider 10 ballots that were either disqualified or disputed in the aftermath of the District 80 vote. No decision was made and another meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, Dec. 30, in room 427 of the State House.
Rep. David Lemoine, D-Old Orchard Beach, said he and Rep. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, will review Fuller's petition and decide sometime next week whether to consider it at the meeting.
"The essence is that we do want to have as open a process as possible and to gather all of the facts," Lemoine said.
House Clerk Millie MacFarland said members of the House Committee on Elections are free to decide how or whether they will review the petition.
"The committee has a wide scope, so to speak, in that they could request, for instance, that a town clerk come back before the committee. They could ask the disenfranchised voter to come before the committee. Whether or not they will choose to do that I don't know," MacFarland said.
MacFarland said she has seen disputed elections end in a variety of ways. Sometimes the provisionally seated candidate stays in the seat and sometimes the opposing candidate ultimately wins. MacFarland also said she has seen legislators call for a new election.
The committee must make a final recommendation to the House by Jan. 8 about the 10 disputed ballots. It's uncertain whether the committee will attempt to count the ballots or dismiss them.
Danielle Gamiz — 621-3811, Ext. 431
dgamiz@centralmaine.com