Creighton's on the ballot: It's official

The ruling came packed with plenty of legal language, but the message was simple: Paul Creighton submitted more than enough valid signatures to have his name appear on the September preliminary city election ballot as a challenger to City Councilor Jerry McDermott.

With that, Boston's three-member Ballot Law Commission on Tuesday unanimously rejected McDermott's bid to have Creighton tossed off the ballot.

McDermott, who has held the Allston-Brighton district council seat since 2002, challenged Creighton's nominating signatures on a fairly obscure point, taking issue with the fact that Creighton had signed the space on many of his nominating sheets reserved for the ''circulator" of the petition, even though it was campaign volunteers who had in fact collected those signatures.

The commission ruled that the circulator, or ''jurrator" as it is known in legalese, assumes responsibility for the signatures being valid, but is not required to have personally collected each signature on that sheet. McDermott subpoenaed more than 40 voters to a July 26 City Hall hearing, where they testified to having signed nomination papers for Creighton that were presented to them by someone other than Creighton himself.

''All of the witnesses confirmed that they had knowingly and intentionally signed the nomination sheets in question in order to place [Creighton] on the ballot," read the decision. The commission added that McDermott had failed to present any ''evidence of intentional fraud or guilty knowledge on the part of the circulators."

McDermott said he will not appeal the decision. The ruling means he will face two challengers, Creighton and Brighton resident Daniel Kontoff, in the Sept. 27 preliminary. The top two finishers will then face off in November.

MICHAEL JONAS