Ervin threatens suit over her name on ballots

Letter to Board of Elections insists on reprinting, rather than other measures Democratic candidates for governor are set for a second televised debate today

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Valerie Ervin has sent a letter to state elections officials threatening legal action if ballots are not reprinted for the June primary to show her name in place of her deceased previous running mate, Kevin Kamenetz.

In a letter sent to the Maryland State Board of Elections on Sunday, an attorney for Ervin also suggested a different solution: affix stickers over Kamenetz’s name that would show Ervin’s name instead.

Kamenetz was one of the leading contenders in the Democratic governor’s race when he died of sudden cardiac arrest on May10.

Ervin, a former Montgomery County councilwoman, was his lieutenant governor running mate and decided to take his place at the top of the ticket, as is allowed by state law.

She picked Marisol Johnson, a former Baltimore County school board member, to be her candidate for lieutenant governor.

State elections officials have said it is too late to reprint the ballots and on Friday declared that notices would be posted in polling sites telling voters that Ervin had taken Kamenetz’s place and any votes for Kamenetz would be counted for Ervin.

Ervin has said that the fix will lead to voter confusion and that she has a right to be on the ballot under her own name.

Elections officials said Tuesday there were logistical barriers to Ervin’s suggestion that stickers be affixed to the approximately 1.5 million ballots printed for Maryland Democrats.

“That’s a lot of stickers,” said Donna J. Duncan, spokesperson for the Maryland Board of Elections.

In addition to the labor-intensive process of adding stickers by hand, “the voting system would not accomodate them,” Duncan said.

Paper ballots are fed into optical scanning machines and stickers could easily get caught in the rollers or scanners on election night as poll workers tabulate results, she said.

“Failure to reprint the ballot will result in prejudice to Ms. Ervin and Ms. Johnson and will result in the disenfranchisement and suppression of Maryland voters,” wrote Ervin’s attorney, Mariana C. Cordier.

Cordier included supportive letters from fellow Democratic candidate Alec Ross and Montgomery County Council President Hans Riemer and Vice President Nancy Navarro.

Duncan said the board was reviewing the Ervin campaign’s letter.

The crowded field of Democrats running for governor will compete in the second televised debate of the campaign today as the seven major candidates seek to gain traction with less than 30 days until the primary election.

The debate will be broadcast at 7 p.m. in the Washington region on News Channel 8 and in the Baltimore region on CW54.

Sinclair Broadasting is hosting the pre-taped event, which allows candidates to deliver one-minute openings followed by a debate moderated by Baltimore Fox 45 anchor Kai Jackson. Two other TV journalists — Brad Bell of ABC 7 and Chris Papst of Fox 45 — will ask questions on several topics.

The Maryland Democratic Party, eager to avoid the appearance of putting its thumb on the scale to help a frontrunner, has organized four debates with all nine candidates on the ballot.

The seven candidates who have raised enough money and built an organization credible to win a statewide bid are Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, former Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, former NAACP president Ben Jealous, attorney Jim Shea, state Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., entrepreneur Alec Ross, and former Michelle Obama policy aide Krish Vignarajah. Baltimore resident James Jones and teacher Ralph Jaffe have also filed to run.

So far, the Democratic field has largely agreed on policy issues and candidates have struggled to distinguish themselves. According to the most recent public polling, most primary voters are undecided.

The field is so crowded that political analysts say the winner could claim victory with as little as 25 percent of the vote.

The winner of the Democratic primary election will face Gov. Larry Hogan in the November general election. The popular governor does not face a GOP primary challenger and is in a strong position as he waits for Democrats to pick a candidate.