Anne Arundel County state delegate takes on a challenger — in court

Maryland’s top court may soon decide a legal question prompted by a Democratic Party dispute in Anne Arundel County: When, exactly, must a candidate establish their residency to run for office?

The state constitution requires a candidate to maintain “a primary place of abode” in a district for six months before an election. But other state laws set deadlines for challenging a candidate’s eligibility further back than six months from a general election.

That question is at the center of a case pitting Del. Gary Simmons, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, against John Dove Jr., a fellow Democrat who hopes to unseat the delegate.

Dove changed his voter registration from a Gambrills address in western Anne Arundel County to an address in Pasadena in February, and soon after, he filed paperwork to run against Simmons in District 12B.

District 12B is an awkwardly shaped district in northern Anne Arundel that includes parts of Hanover, Linthicum, Brooklyn Park, Glen Burnie and Pasadena.

The district’s voters are 47% Democratic and 26% Republican, with the rest unaffiliated or belonging to third parties. That gives the winner of the June Democratic primary an advantage in the general election.

Simmons, in a court filing, alleges that Dove has not actually moved to the Pasadena house and therefore not only hasn’t established “a primary place of abode” there, but also made false statements on his candidacy paperwork and voter registration.

While questions about candidate residency are common in Maryland elections, they rarely end up in court. State law requires candidate residency challenges to be filed within 15 days of the close of the candidate sign-up period, and questions about a candidate’s address often aren’t raised until much later.

But Simmons was quick to file the challenge against Dove, leading to a hearing Monday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.

Dove’s attorney, Jill P. Carter, successfully argued in court that it was premature for Simmons to challenge the residency. She argued the constitution measures residency as six months prior to the November general election — putting the residency requirement in early May.

“It’s simply untimely,” said Carter, a former state senator and state delegate who represented Baltimore.

Carter also alleged that Simmons was waging a political fight in court that’s better decided by voters. “In some ways, the petitioner is asking the court to jump into a political dispute,” she said.

Simmons’ attorney, Robbie Leonard, said the six-month issue wasn’t the only question for the court. Dove’s candidate filing and voter registration were signed under oath with the Pasadena address listed, Leonard said.

“Both of those are not true,” said Leonard, who holds a position in the Maryland Democratic Party and has unsuccessfully run for office himself.

Judge Robert J. Thompson, after hearing arguments for less than 30 minutes, granted Dove’s motion to dismiss the case.

Thompson said he agreed that it was too soon to challenge a candidate’s residency because it’s not yet six months before the general election.

“I believe the matter is premature,” he said from the bench.

Thompson also denied a request from Dove to issue sanctions against Simmons’ lawyer. The filing suggested that Simmons took “a malicious action” in court because he’s been the subject of news coverage critical of his campaign finance spending.

Simmons plans to appeal to the Supreme Court of Maryland.

“I appreciate what our team is doing to make sure that we are doing our bit to represent the residents of District 12B and to make sure that the people that’s there have proper representation,” Simmons said after the court hearing. “And the fact that someone from outside of our district is looking to infiltrate it by falsely stating that they live there when they don’t is not going to bring the services to the community that’s needed.”

Dove declined to comment heading out of court. But Carter, his lawyer, said she was pleased with the ruling.

The case could move quickly, as election officials face deadlines in the coming weeks to finalize and print ballots for the June primary election.