Anne Brensley, the GOP-endorsed candidate for lieutenant governor, is now facing a very different kind of campaign test: math. Her campaign says she has come up short of the signatures required to land on the September primary ballot after what it describes as a scheme involving a paid signature gatherer. According to her team, entire bundles of nomination papers were rejected and town clerks in several South Shore communities flagged some signatures as potentially forged. Brensley says she is weighing legal action, plans to press prosecutors and the secretary of state to investigate, and is at the same time preparing a write-in backup plan if she ultimately does not qualify.
Brensley’s campaign says volunteers first collected roughly 7,500 valid signatures before bringing in consultant Joe Bronske to finish the job. The campaign says Bronske told them he had gathered 6,203 signatures and had received $15,000 for the work. According to the campaign, he later returned the money after questions surfaced about entire batches of papers, and clerks in Weymouth, Hanover and Rockland threw out whole stacks. As reported by Boston.com, the campaign shared an April 30 email and other records that it says support its allegations.
Campaign Response Meets Hard Deadlines
Brensley has asked Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin for extra time to replace signatures her team believes are suspect and has urged local law enforcement to review the batches flagged by clerks. Galvin’s office says it cannot alter the filing dates set in state law: nomination papers were due to town clerks by May 5, and clerks must forward certified signatures to the secretary of state by June 2. A spokesperson for Galvin confirmed that “a few local clerks” had contacted the Elections Division about questionable signatures, according to WBUR.
Consultant Accused as Lawsuit Talk Grows
The campaign says it is considering a civil lawsuit against Bronske, and Boston Herald reports the campaign has already moved to sue the secretary of state in an effort to secure extra time to cure the shortfall. Bronske, a former Weymouth GOP official who runs Ancestor’s Trail Genealogy, was hired, the campaign says, to gather signatures across the South Shore and Metro South. Other campaigns, including an attorney general candidate and a fellow lieutenant governor hopeful, also paid Bronske’s firm, according to campaign finance paperwork reviewed by NBC Boston.
What Could Happen Next
When town clerks flag apparent forgeries, their reports can set off criminal referrals to district attorneys, and past examples show prosecutors sometimes open investigations into the signature-gathering firms involved. The Boston Globe covered a 2021 Norfolk County inquiry that began after a town clerk raised similar concerns about initiative petitions, highlighting how such probes can follow complaints from multiple clerks. Whether prosecutors take up Brensley’s case will depend on what local clerks and Galvin’s Elections Division find as they complete certification of the returns.
For now, Brensley says she will continue to campaign even if she is forced off the ballot, and her team plans to submit additional sheets with local clerks before the state’s June 2 cutoff, the campaign told NBC Boston. The episode has thrown a fresh spotlight on paid signature-gathering in Massachusetts races and could prompt tighter scrutiny of hired collectors as certification continues.
