MD Supreme Court disqualifies candidate in Anne Arundel residency dispute

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The Maryland Supreme Court disqualified an Anne Arundel County resident from a House of Delegates primary race, upholding a lower court’s ruling to remove him from the ballot.

The court issued its per curiam decision hours after oral arguments in the residency dispute, in which incumbent Del. Gary Simmons alleged that challenger John Dove Jr. is ineligible to run against him because he hasn’t moved into District 12B yet. The unsigned ruling said that an opinion would be filed “later.”

“This is as open-and-shut as you could have on a factual basis,” state Sen. Clarence Lam, an ally of Simmons who helped recruit a private investigator to probe Dove’s residency, said in a statement. Lam said that if the court didn’t rule in their favor, such an order “would have invalidated any process for someone to challenge a candidate’s residency requirement before ballots are printed.”

The arguments hinged on a section of the Maryland Constitution that states a candidate is only eligible for a legislative seat if they have resided and maintained a primary place of abode in the respective district for six months prior to their election. 

Simmons and his attorney, Robbie Leonard, filed their complaint in March, as state election law requires residency challenges to be filed within 15 days of the candidate filing deadline.

“The system worked as it should,” Leonard, who was hired by a slate of Democrats including Simmons and Lam, said in a statement.

Dove, 61, testified at an evidentiary hearing last week that he is in the process of moving to a Pasadena home within the district, but Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Robert Thompson found that he hadn’t “perfected” those intentions.

“He has indicated — and his word has not been challenged — that he will be there” in District 12B by May 3, six months before the November election, Dove’s attorney, Tiffany Alston, said at Monday’s oral arguments. “He plans to be there. He stated so, and he’s making every attempt to be there, but it is a process to sell a million-dollar property and build another million-dollar property.”

Dove and Alston, herself a lawmaker who was in the Maryland State House later Monday for the final day of the legislative session, did not immediately return requests for comment after the court’s decision. Simmons said in a statement that he was “glad to be able to bring this to a close to be able to focus on the general election.”

The court had previously reversed a ruling by Thompson that dismissed the case, ordering the matter back to Thompson’s courtroom for an evidentiary hearing. A majority of the justices found that Simmons’ challenge was ripe “with respect to his claim that Mr. Dove failed to satisfy requirements in the Election Law Article to be lawfully registered to vote in, and to reside or have a place of abode in” the district. 

Leonard argued Monday that at last week’s hearing on the merits, Dove had left open when he would actually vacate his old house outside the district and move into the new home.

“Why are we here? Why was this case sent back to the circuit court?” Leonard asked before the justices Monday. “Was it just for show? Was it a waste of time? Because from what I’m hearing here, there could have been no favorable outcome for Mr. Simmons; there could only be a favorable outcome for Mr. Dove.”

Some justices questioned whether Dove changing his voter registration and driver’s license to reflect the new address was enough to make him eligible, while others seemed skeptical of granting Simmons’ challenge prior to May.

“Do you recognize that there’s a constitutional reckoning and that if he hasn’t moved to [the new home] by May 3, that the Constitution is sort of self-executing?” Justice Peter K. Killough asked Alston.

“If he doesn’t move to the home on May 3 and he wins the [primary] election, he would be disqualified from advancing to the general election, and he could no longer be the Democratic Party’s nominee,” Alston said. “The democratic process would then take over.”

This year’s primary elections are set for June 23, though ballots are set to be certified next Monday and printed later in the week. In November, the Democratic nominee will face Republican hopeful Blair L. Brannock, who is running unopposed in the primary.

This story has been updated.