Signatures on Senate hopeful’s ballot petition draw scrutiny

Shiva Ayyadurai didn’t have much luck in Acton with his 2024 presidential campaign. 

Two years later, election officials are sounding alarms as Ayyadurai runs for U.S. Senate. 

Town staff reported the independent candidate to state authorities after questioning signatures on a petition to qualify for the November ballot, Town Clerk Kaari Mai Tari told The Acton Bridge. 

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office also heard from other communities and forwarded accusations to state prosecutors this month. 

Senate candidates need 10,000 signatures to get a ballot line. 

The Acton Town Clerk’s Office got 16 pages of signatures for Ayyadurai in early June, Tari told The Bridge. Eight names drew extra attention because they “seemed to be written by the same hand” and with the same ink. 

The signatures matched people who live in town, but officials found spelling errors in the names and addresses, Tari told The Bridge. 

State officials told Acton staff to accept and process the papers but forward them a copy, Tari said. 

“They took it from there,” she said. 

Acton certified 150 signatures for Ayyadurai, including the eight entries in question, Tari said. 

Local officials must certify names on nomination papers even if they think they’re fraudulent, “as the proper venue for addressing allegations of fraud is before the State Ballot Law Commission,” Debra O’Malley, director of communications for Galvin’s office, told The Bridge.

No one filed an objection with the commission about Ayyadurai’s papers, O’Malley said. Ayyadurai remains on the November ballot. 

Galvin’s referral letter, first reported by The Boston Globe, said officials in Acton, Boylston, Clinton, Stow, Townsend, Wakefield, and Woburn all reported concerns.

A spokesperson for Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell declined to answer Bridge questions. Ayyadurai’s campaign didn’t respond.

Tari has worked in Acton since 2017 and said she doesn’t remember another situation like this. 

Ayyadurai is a tech entrepreneur with four degrees from MIT. He’s run in multiple U.S. Senate races over the past decade as an independent and as a Republican. Ayyadurai sought the presidency as an independent in 2024, garnering 36 Acton votes.

Democratic incumbent Ed Markey will face Republican John Deaton in this year’s Senate race. Ayyadurai is one of several independent and third-party candidates also seeking the office. 

Election Day for races nationwide is November 3. In-person early voting starts October 17. The voter registration deadline is October 24. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is 5 p.m. on October 27.