Boucher v. Begin

I respectfully disagree with the majority’s-conclusion that genuine and timely filed signatures of voters endorsing a candidate’s nomination papers are invalid whenever their filing has not been accompanied by an affidavit prepared by some person who personally witnessed the signatures.

The applicable election laws establish three touchstones for validating signatures on nomination papers: (1) Have the nomination papers containing the signatures been filed sixty days before the primary, G.L.1956 § 17-14r-ll? (2) Can each signature be “reasonably identified to be the signature of the voter it…