Exclusive: Read Krish Vignarajah’s official legal complaint

Krishanti Vignarajah’s Maryland gubernatorial campaign announced this past Friday that Vignarajah’s attornies – Andrew D. Herman, Adam W. Braskich, and Phil Spector – filed a complaint on Vignarajah’s behalf in Anne Arundel Court Circuit Court for an expedited declaratory judgment “confirming that Vignarajah satisfies the eligibility requirements of the Maryland Constitution to become governor of Maryland.

Citing Maryland case law, Vignarajah’s attornies state that the “Court may grant a declaratory judgment if it will serve to terminate the controversy giving rise to the proceeding, following three specific conditions” (see report).

Vignarajah’s attornies also state that “because of the Defendants’ public statements and the confusion and uncertainty they have generated with respect to Vignarajah’s candidacy, there is now an actual legal controversy between Vignarajah and the Defendants, all of whom have concrete interests in the outcome and who have taken antagonistic positions with respect to Vignarajah’s eligibility to seek office.”

The complaint states that “Maryland’s Declaratory Judgement Act empowers ‘this’ Court to issue a declaratory judgment that would serve to terminate this controversy once and for all.”

Delaying the judgment, Vignarajah’s attornies write, would be “harmful to Vignarajah’s campaign and patently unfair to her candidacy.”

Vignarajah’s complaint names the following defendants:

• Gov. Larry Hogan’s campaign committee, specifically Dirk Haire, Hogan’s campaign lawyer and the current chairman of the Maryland Republican Party;
• Mary Wagner, the Director of Voter Registration for the Maryland State Board of Elections and a registered Republican;
• the Maryland State of Board of Elections

The Court document goes on to state that Vignarajah’s “opponents declined to cite any legal provisions or case law to support their spurious claims, but nevertheless succeeded in prompting fringe and mainstream radio and print media to ask dogwhistle questions of Vignarajah about her ‘citizenship’ and whether her parents immigrated legally to the United States.”

Furthermore, Vignarajah’s Court document states:

• Vignarajah has been a continuously-registered Maryland voter since October 2006.
• While working in Washington, D.C., Vignarajah registered to vote in that jurisdiction in 2010 and voted there several times between 2010 and 2014.
• Vignarajah never voted in more than one jurisdiction in the same election.
• Being registered to vote in more than one jurisdiction is neither uncommon nor improper. And no provision of Maryland law allow anyone to terminate Vignarajah’s registration or remove her from the state’s voter registration list because she registered to vote or voted outside of Maryland.
• At no point was Vignarajah’s Maryland registration terminated, nor has she ever been removed from Maryland’s voter registration list at any point for any length of time.

A Miner Detail was the first media outlet to report that Vignarajah’s campaign was taking legal action to declare her candidacy under the Maryland Constitution.

Vignarajah’s campaign today forwarded A Miner Detail a copy of her complaint.

Final Complaint and Affidavit (Vignarajah v. Hogan for Governor Et Al.) by Ryan Miner on Scribd