Paperwork error takes Salisbury Republicans off the November town election ballot

SALISBURY — The Salisbury Republican Town Committee has hit another snag in its efforts to field a slate of candidates for town offices in the November elections. As a result of a procedural error, none of the party’s candidates will be on the ballot. All seven will now have to run as write-in candidates.

Bobby Riva, vice chair of the committee, mistakenly signed three petition sheets indicating he had witnessed all the signatures when, in fact, he had witnessed the signatures for only one sheet. As a result, all three sheets were ruled invalid by the head of the state Elections Enforcement Commission.

The necessity of the Republicans running as write-in candidates will probably have little effect on the election, since few of the major races are contested and even a small number of write-in votes will elect the GOP office-seekers unless other viable write-in candidates emerge.

Still, that doesn’t make Riva feel any better.

“I’ve apologized to some of our candidates already,� said Riva, who was visibly upset in an interview Tuesday afternoon with The Lakeville Journal. “They deserve better than this. I feel really bad about it.�

From bad to worse

The latest flap was actually caused by another disappointment. After the July 24 caucus, a failure to submit the GOP slate to the town clerk’s office by July 25 resulted in a last-minute scramble to get Riva and the other Republican candidates on the Nov. 6 ballot as petitioning candidates.

As a result, committee members were forced to seek signatures to get their candidates for office on the ballot and have them forwarded to the secretary of the state’s office by the Aug. 8 deadline. The total number of signatures required was the equivalent of 5 percent of the registered Republicans in the town, or 36.

So Riva, committee Chairman Doug Richardson and committee member Peter Oliver split the collection duties and quickly gathered the required number of signatures. Then they met in Town Hall to deliver their sheets. Richardson and Oliver left, and Riva mistakenly signed the sheets attesting to the fact that he had witnessed all the signatures.

Riva said early this past weekend, “a friend� whom he declined to name, alerted him to the fact that he had signed the sheets in error.

“My heart stopped,� Riva said, his voice cracking slightly with emotion. “It ate at me all weekend.�

Unable to reach state officials over the weekend, Riva called Jeffrey Garfield, executive director and general counsel of the state Elections Enforcement Commission, on Monday and received the bad news.

“The statutes are very specific,� Garfield said in an interview. “The courts have interpreted it strictly. And in this case it’s clear.�

Asked why he elected to come forward with his mistake rather than remaining silent and hoping officials would not notice it, Riva replied, “I couldn’t live with myself.� He also apologized to town election officials who will have more than their share of work in dealing with additional write-in ballots on Nov. 6.

The lone Republican

At their caucus, the Republicans were unable to field a candidate to challenge incumbent Democrat Curtis Rand for first selectman but they did nominate Riva for selectman. If he had secured a spot on the Republican ballot, Riva would have been assured election because Connecticut’s minority party representation law requires an opposing party member on the Board of Selectmen. Oliver, the lone Republican on the three-member board, is not running for re-election.

As for whether other candidates can come out of the woodwork and run for office, too, Garfield said any write-in candidates must register as such before the election. Write-in votes for unregistered candidates will be declared invalid.

Riva said he plans to resign as vice chairman of the Republican Town Committee soon, yet remain on the committee as a non-officer. But Richardson said in an interview the executive committee of the RTC will meet today “to assess the damage and decide where to go next.�

“We’ll be looking to see what needs to be done to restore democracy to the Northwest Corner,� Richardson said.

“It’s an unfortunate series of events,� added Garfield, the state elections chief, “and a hard lesson to learn.�

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