Dobson v. Dunlap
| Decision Date | 16 September 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. CV-08-292-B-W.,CV-08-292-B-W. |
| Citation | 576 F.Supp.2d 181 |
| Parties | Laurie DOBSON, Jane Moore, Wells R. Staley-Mays, Christian Venable, Gary Higginbottom, and Edward Cohen, Plaintiffs, v. Matthew DUNLAP, Secretary of State for the state of Maine, in his official, capacity, Julie Flynn, Deputy Secretary of State for the state of Maine, in her official capacity, and the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maine |
Jon A. Languet, Languet Law, LLC, Topsham, ME, for Plaintiffs.
Phyllis Gardiner, Maine Attorney General's office, Augusta, ME, for Defendants.
ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS' EMERGENCY MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
There is no constitutional right to procrastinate. Laurie Dobson, an independent candidate for United States Senate, waited until the last moment to deliver her nomination petitions to the municipal registrars in the state of Maine and when they failed to promptly certify all of her petitions, she failed to meet the statutory deadline to file 4,000 certified voter signatures with the Secretary of State. As a result, her name will not appear on the state's November 4, 2008 ballot. She and five supporters filed suit alleging that the failure of the statute to mandate a quick turnaround by the registrars and the absence of an adequate means of redress constitute violations of the United States Constitution's First and Fourteenth Amendments. They now move for an emergency injunction, demanding that the Court order the state to insert her name in the ballot as an independent candidate for United States Senate. The Court rejects their demands. The Court concludes that Ms. Dobson's causes of action are barred by principles of claim preclusion and by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. The Court further concludes that her supporters' claims are barred under the equitable doctrine of laches and, even if the merits of their claims are reached, the absence of a statutory turnaround provision is not of constitutional dimension and, contrary to their contentions, Maine law does provide an adequate means of redress.
To be on the ballot in the state of Maine, a candidate for United States Senate must present the Secretary of State a nomination petition signed by at least 4,000 and not more than 6,000 eligible voters. 21-A M.R.S.A. § 354(5)(C). Before a nomination petition may be filed with the Secretary, each petition must be delivered to the town registrar and the registrar must "certify which names on the petition appear in the central voter registration system as registered voters in that municipality." 21-A M.R.S.A. § 354(7)(B), (C). Once certified, the petition may then be filed, and the Secretary is required to review it; "if the petition contains the required number of certified names and is properly completed, [the Secretary] shall accept and file it." 21-A M.R.S.A. § 356(1). The Secretary then certifies the nomination. 21-A M.R.S.A. § 357.
Maine law controls the timing of the petition process. A nomination petition "may not be signed before January 1st in the election year in which it is to be used." 21-A M.R.S.A. § 354(6). Usually, a petition must be presented to the registrars by 5 p.m. on May 25 and filed with the Secretary by 5 p.m. on June 1; however, as May 25, 2008 fell on Sunday and Monday was Memorial Day, the due dates for presentation of the petitions to the registrars and for filing with the Secretary were moved to May 27, 2008 and June 2, 2008, respectively. 1 M.R.S.A. § 71(12); Me. R. Civ. P. 6(a).
Between January 1, 2008 and May 27, 2008, Laurie Dobson gathered 5,138 signatures in various communities across the state for nomination as an independent candidate for United States Senate and she Pl.'s Complaint ¶ 14 (Docket # 1). Approximately 50 petitions "were not certified and returned to [Ms.] Dobson until after 5:00 p.m. on June 2, 2008." Id. ¶ 15. Before 5:00 p.m. on June 2, 2008, Ms. Dobson submitted to the Secretary of State "all of those petitions which were timely returned to her." The total number of signatures on those petitions was 4,848 of which 1,008 had been rejected by the various clerks and/or registrars, leaving her just under the 4,000 minimum. Id. Based on Ms. Dobson's failure to file at least 4,000 certified signatures by 5:00 p.m. on June 2, 2008, the Secretary of State did not certify Ms. Dobson's name and her name will not appear on the November 4, 2008 ballot.
Between June 2 and June 6, Ms. Dobson continued to receive certified petitions from registrars and she attempted to file those petitions with the Secretary of State. Id. ¶ 16. The number of certified signatures on the timely and untimelyfiled petitions totaled 4,089. Id. Ms. Dobson requested an extension to file these additional petitions, but the Deputy Secretary declined her request as beyond her legal authority. Id. ¶ 18; Aff. of Julie Flynn, Ex. 9-5 (Docket # 8) (Flynn Aff.). Ms. Dobson also asked the Secretary to compare the invalidated signatures against the Central Voter Registration System and she requested an opportunity pursuant to 21-A M.R.S.A. § 356(2) to challenge the 1,008 rejected signatures. Id. ¶ 17. The Secretary of State also rejected these requests, but suggested to Ms. Dobson that she might seek judicial review pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 M.R.S.A. § 11001-11008. Id. ¶ 18; Flynn Aff. Ex. 9-3.
On June 24, 2008, Ms. Dobson filed a Rule 80C petition for review of agency action in the Kennebec County Superior Court for the state of Maine. Def.'s Memo. in Opp'n to Pl.'s Emergency Mot. for a Preliminary Injunction Ex. 8-2 (Docket # 8) (Def.'s Memo). She also moved to present additional evidence and for an expedited hearing.1 Id. Ex. 8-3, 8-4. On August 27, 2008, the Superior Court Justice granted the motion for expedited hearing, and denied the motion to present additional evidence and the Rule 80C petition. Id. Ex. 8-7.
Ms. Dobson appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. On August 29, 2008, after an expedited hearing, the Law Court denied her appeal. Dobson v. Dep't of the Secretary of State, 2008 ME 137, 955 A.2d 266 (2008). The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the Superior Court's "judgment affirming the Secretary of State's final agency action concluding that it lacked the authority to extend the statutory filing deadline and denying Dobson a hearing to review the actions of the local election officials." Id. 2008 ME 137, ¶ 2, 955 A.2d 266. The Court refused to hear Ms. Dobson's constitutional challenge, because it was "raised for the first time by Dobson in her appeal to this Court." Id. 2008 ME 137, ¶ 3, 955 A.2d 266.
On September 8, 2008, Ms. Dobson and five other individuals filed suit in this Court, claiming that the state of Maine statutory nomination process imposes an impermissible burden on their exercise of First and Fourteenth Amendments rights and that the absence of a means to challenge the decisions of the town registrars constitutes a denial of due process under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Compl. They contemporaneously filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. Emergency Mot. for a Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order (Docket # 4)(Emergency Mot.). On September 11, 2008, the Secretary of State responded to the emergency motion. Defs.' Memo. On September 12, 2008, the Court heard oral argument.2
In their first Count, the Plaintiffs focus on the absence of a statutory time period within which the registrars must certify and return the nomination petitions and the lack of any coordination between the date the petitions are due at the registrars and the date by which they must be certified. They contend that the absence of a deadline by which registrars must return certified petitions "gives the municipal election officials de facto power to prevent a candidate from filing in time to appear on the ballot." Compl. ¶ 25. Here, for example, not all of the nomination petitions submitted by Ms. Dobson by 5:00 p.m. on May 27, 2008 were certified and returned to her by 5:00 p.m. on June 2, 2008. The Plaintiffs claim that the absence of a statutorily imposed deadline on the registrars constitutes a violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, restricting their rights of political expression, association, and voting and the right to petition for redress of grievances.
In Count Two, the Plaintiffs claim that their Fourteenth Amendment rights to substantive due process were violated by the absence of a means by which they can contest the registrars' refusals to certify names on the nomination petition. They point out that the Secretary has interpreted 21-A M.R.S.A. § 356(2), which provides a means to challenge the validity of a nomination petition or the names on the petition, to allow only the invalidation of signatures that were validated, not to validate signatures that were invalidated. Although an individual voter can contest a registrar's refusal to enter the person's name in the central voter registration system or a registrar's rejection of a voter registration application, they say that process is too cumbersome and lengthy to provide for relief within the nomination petition deadlines. See 21-A M.R.S.A. § 103. Finally, they contend that neither Rule 80B nor 80C provides a means to remedy the failure of a registrar to certify a name.
Laurie Dobson's claim in federal court faces two insurmountable preliminary hurdles: claim preclusion and the Rooker-Feldman doctrine....
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