By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
Moisette “Tonya” Sweat’s bid to appear on the November ballot as an independent challenger to Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy hit a wall in circuit court this week. Now it’s headed to Maryland’s highest court, on two tracks at once.
Sweat, an attorney and consultant from Accokeek, is running for county executive for the third time since 2022. This year she’s doing it without a party behind her, which means clearing a signature threshold most candidates never have to think about.
The signature fight
Maryland election law requires candidates seeking nomination by petition, the path unaffiliated candidates must use, to submit signatures equal to the lesser of 10,000 registered voters or 1% of registered voters eligible to vote for the office sought. For a countywide office like Prince George’s County executive, that put the practical threshold at roughly 6,500 signatures.
Sweat announced Aug. 3 that she’d cleared it, after what she described as an 11th-hour push to add more names to her petition. The county Board of Elections didn’t agree. The Banner reported the board invalidated 1,300 of the 6,605 signatures Sweat submitted. WJLA reported that more than 100 of the rejected signatures were duplicates and nearly 400 came from people who weren’t registered voters, leaving her nearly 1,000 signatures short of the threshold.
Sweat sued the board Aug. 19 in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, according to court records. She amended her complaint less than a week later, adding exhibits that included the board’s formal notice of determination and a signer-by-signer report on her petition.
On Aug. 27, Sweat filed a motion for an order of default and default judgment against the board, which court records show was assigned to a different judge, Judge Alves. That motion was never separately ruled on. The Sept. 3 order that closed the case declared all pending motions moot.
“The county Board of Elections didn’t agree. It invalidated 1,300 of the 6,605 signatures Sweat submitted.”
A denied injunction, then a one-day trial
With ballots headed to the printer, Sweat asked the court for emergency relief. On Aug. 28, she filed a motion asking Judge William A. Snoddy to block the county from certifying and printing ballots while her case was pending.
Snoddy denied that request in an order dated Sept. 1, after a hearing held Aug. 31. He reset the matter for a one-day bench trial Sept. 3.
That hearing produced a mixed result. Court records show Snoddy denied nearly everything Sweat asked for. The one exception: he ordered the county board to refund the fee she’d paid to file her declaration of intent. The court’s docket lists the case’s disposition as a dismissal, and the case was closed the same day.
Sweat told the Banner before the ruling, “This campaign is not suspended. It’s not ended. It’s not over.”
Sweat represented herself throughout the circuit court proceedings, according to the Banner.
“The one exception: he ordered the county board to refund the fee she’d paid to file her declaration of intent.”
Two paths to the Supreme Court
Sweat didn’t wait to appeal. Court records show she filed a petition for writ of certiorari directly with the Supreme Court of Maryland on Sept. 3, the same day Snoddy ruled against her. That petition’s docket shows an order was issued the same day, though the order’s contents weren’t available for this story. The next day, Sept. 4, Sweat also filed a formal notice of appeal, which the court docketed as a separate case.
Both filings stem from the same circuit court judgment. Sweat is listed as the petitioner on the certiorari filing and the appellant on the direct appeal. The Prince George’s County Board of Elections is the opposing party in both. Dennis Whitley III, who along with Arthur J. Horne Jr. represented the board in circuit court, is listed as its attorney on the direct appeal docket. The certiorari petition’s docket does not list an attorney for the board.
Oral argument in the direct appeal is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 9 a.m. before the Supreme Court of Maryland. It isn’t clear from the available records whether the certiorari petition remains pending alongside it or was resolved by the Sept. 3 order.
“Sweat didn’t wait to appeal.”
She’s not the only one
Sweat isn’t the only unaffiliated candidate whose signature fight has landed at Maryland’s highest court this election cycle. Lisa Russell, running unaffiliated for the House of Delegates in District 23, lost a similar case in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County on Sept. 2 after a three-day trial. The Supreme Court of Maryland heard her appeal on an expedited basis Sept. 4 and affirmed the lower court’s ruling that same day, keeping her off the November ballot.
Sweat has publicly tracked Russell’s case alongside her own. She posted supportive comments about Russell on Facebook on Sept. 2, the day of Russell’s circuit court trial. The Banner reported that Sweat made a further comment about Russell’s case on Sept. 3, the same day Sweat lost her own circuit court fight, noting that Russell had filed her Supreme Court appeal a day earlier.
“Two unaffiliated candidates from Prince George’s County have taken ballot-access fights to Maryland’s highest court in the same election cycle.”
What’s next
If the Supreme Court rules against her, Sweat’s stated fallback is a write-in campaign, which would require filing additional paperwork by Oct. 15. In a reply to a supporter’s question on Facebook, Sweat said write-in votes for “Tonya Sweat” or “Sweat” would count toward her candidacy.
Braveboy, who won a five-way Democratic primary this year after first taking office in a 2025 special election, faces no Republican opponent in November. Barring a change in Sweat’s ballot status, the general election would otherwise go uncontested.
Case timeline
- Aug. 3, 2026: Sweat submits her signature petition to the county elections board.
- Aug. 19: Sweat sues the Prince George’s County Board of Elections in circuit court after it rejects her petition.
- Aug. 25: Sweat files an amended complaint with additional exhibits.
- Aug. 27: Sweat files a motion for an order of default and default judgment against the board, assigned to a different judge.
- Aug. 28: Sweat files an emergency motion to halt ballot certification and printing.
- Sept. 1: Judge Snoddy denies the emergency motion; case reset for a one-day trial.
- Sept. 3: Snoddy denies nearly all relief sought, orders a fee refund, and closes the case. Sweat files a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of Maryland the same day.
- Sept. 4: Sweat files a formal notice of appeal, docketed separately by the Supreme Court.
- Sept. 9: Oral argument scheduled in the direct appeal before the Supreme Court of Maryland.
“If the Supreme Court rules against her, Sweat’s stated fallback is a write-in campaign.”
Sources: Circuit Court for Prince George’s County case record (C-16-CV-26-005022); Supreme Court of Maryland case records (SCM-PET-0309-2026 and SCM-REG-0025-2026); The Baltimore Banner, “County executive candidate Tonya Sweat sues Prince George’s elections board over eligibility,” Aug. 20, 2026; The Baltimore Banner Prince George’s County (Facebook page), post on Sweat’s Sept. 3 circuit court loss and Lisa Russell’s appeal, posted on or about Sept. 4, 2026; WJLA, “Independent candidate vying for Prince George’s County Exec sues over disqualification,” Aug. 20, 2026; NBC4 Washington, “Tonya Sweat works to get on ballot in Prince George’s county executive race”; TANTV, “Braveboy vs. The Field: Inside Prince George’s County’s 2026 Executive Race,” April 21, 2026; WUSA9, “Aisha Braveboy wins Prince George’s County Executive Democratic primary,” June 23, 2026; Supreme Court of Maryland per curiam order in Russell v. Maryland State Board of Elections, No. 24, September Term 2026, filed Sept. 4, 2026; Facebook posts from Sweat’s campaign page.
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