MARSHFIELD — The Marshfield Board of Registrars voted 2-1 on May 29 to invalidate the recall petition against Select Board member Eric Kelley, concluding that the petition failed to satisfy requirements contained in the town charter.
The decision came after the board spent more than an hour reviewing a series of legal and procedural objections that had been raised against the recall effort. Before reaching the final vote, the registrars unanimously rejected several challenges to the petition process, including objections alleging that the recall affidavit contained improper claims, that signers did not understand what they were signing, and that the petitions had not been properly certified by the registrars.
The board also voted 2-1 to reject an objection that would have excluded signatures submitted after April 21, the date the town clerk certified that the petition had collected enough signatures to move forward. Acting Chair Walter Sterling supported excluding those signatures, while registrars Dave Kohler and Dave O'Reilly voted to count them.
The board's final decision centered on objections concerning the form of the petition itself. Objectors argued that the petitions did not comply with provisions of the town charter, including requirements related to the seal, issuance date and other procedural elements.
Sterling argued that those omissions could not be dismissed as simple clerical mistakes and instead represented a failure to comply with the charter.
"It appears that the omission of the seal is not a clerical error or an oversight. In this case, as the town clerk during the May 22nd hearing provided reasoning as to why she intentionally omitted the seal," Sterling said.
Later in his remarks, Sterling added, "This is effectively a modification of the applicable provisions of the town charter."
Sterling said he was concerned that overlooking those omissions would establish a precedent allowing future officials to selectively disregard charter requirements.
Registrar Dave O'Reilly disagreed, arguing that the board's responsibility was to respect the intent of petition signers and allow the process to continue.
"Our job as registrars are to let the voter speak and let the person who signs these petitions have a voice," O'Reilly said. "We're taking away their voice by ending this right now."
O'Reilly said he did not believe procedural mistakes by town officials should outweigh the actions of residents who signed the petition.
"I don't think a person signing that petition was duped into believing something else happened or there's no seal on this. I'm not signing this because there's no seal," he said.
Kohler said he had struggled with the issue throughout the review process. Earlier in the discussion, he acknowledged concerns about defects in the petitions and later indicated he agreed with Sterling's reading of the charter.
Following the discussion, Sterling moved that the recall petition be declared invalid because "the various provisions of chapter C, article 8-1 of the Marshfield Charter were not satisfied." Kohler seconded the motion.
The motion passed 2-1, with Sterling and Kohler voting in favor and O'Reilly opposed.
After the vote, board counsel Lauren Goldberg clarified that the petition had been invalidated based on "the form of the petition."
Because the board invalidated the petition, it declined to proceed with a planned review of challenged signatures. During the meeting, Goldberg noted that decisions made by the board could be appealed.
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