BOSTON — The Massachusetts Republican Party spent the weekend at war with itself.

On Friday, the State Ballot Law Commission disqualified two Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor — Anne Brensley and Anne Manning-Martin — both casualties of a signature-gathering scheme that produced hundreds of fraudulent signatures across multiple Republican campaigns. The Commission's forensic findings on Manning-Martin's papers included signatures written in the same hand, signatures from people not eligible to vote, and forgeries in the names of dead voters.

By Saturday, MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale, RNC committeemen Brad Wyatt and Janet Fogarty, gubernatorial nominee Mike Minogue, and former gubernatorial candidate Mike Kennealy had all publicly accused Lieutenant Governor candidate Shawn Oliver — the only remaining Republican on the September ballot — and his running mate, gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve, of colluding with the Massachusetts Democratic Party to remove their fellow Republicans.

By Sunday, Oliver and Shortsleeve were firing back over what Shortsleeve called "the largest case of voter fraud in Massachusetts history."

Carnevale wrote first, in a Friday letter to the state committee. "Rather than focusing on defeating Democrats and expanding our Party's reach," she wrote of unnamed Republicans, "they devoted their time and resources to an effort that ultimately removed a Convention qualified candidate from the ballot."

Wyatt and Fogarty did name Oliver. Their letter, co-signed by 18 members of the Republican State Committee, accused Oliver's campaign of "willing coordination and collusion with the Massachusetts Democratic Party" and called the conduct "a violation of our bylaws and betrayal of our values." The letter named Shortsleeve's gubernatorial campaign "by extension."

Minogue, the convention-endorsed Republican gubernatorial nominee, told the Herald it was "shameful that anyone would oppose unifying to win, but unfathomable that anyone would join arms with bad actors to block the democratic process."

Kennealy, who failed to qualify for the convention ballot and has since endorsed Minogue, went the furthest via the Herald. "Brian Shortsleeve will do whatever it takes to advance his personal ambition without regard to what is good for our party or state," he said, "including the disgusting and unprecedented step of teaming with the Democratic Party to remove a fellow Republican from the ballot."

What did not appear in any of the four statements was a condemnation of the Bronske scheme itself.

Through the Herald, Oliver called the accusations "simply false" and pointed at the Commission. "The Ballot Law Commission made clear that it — not our campaign — decided to consolidate the cases," he said. "Anyone interested in the facts should read the Commission's decision for themselves instead of relying on political spin."

Shortsleeve, also speaking to the Herald, went further. "This wasn't just another ballot dispute," he said. "It was the largest case of voter fraud in Massachusetts history. I'm proud that Shawn's campaign stood up for election integrity, and I'll do it every single time, regardless of which party is involved when I'm governor."

He turned the rhetorical question back on his own party's chair. "What I find astonishing is watching the Massachusetts Republican Party abandon its own principles to defend more than 1,200 fraudulent signatures," Shortsleeve said. "Instead of standing for honesty and integrity, they're choosing insider politics over the rule of law."

"Mike Minogue should join me in condemning this instance of voter fraud wherever it occurs," he said. "Election integrity isn't something you defend only when it's politically convenient. It's a principle. Either you stand for honest elections, or you don't."

The Bronske scheme — named for Republican consultant Joe Bronske, whose signature-gathering operation produced fraudulent submissions across multiple Republican campaigns, primarily collected on the South Shore and in Metro South — also caught a third candidate the same day. The Commission disqualified Republican Attorney General candidate Michael Walsh on the same set of forensic findings: hundreds of signatures written in the same hand, signatures attributed to voters not eligible to be registered, and signatures forged in the names of dead voters. The cumulative rejections pushed Brensley, Manning-Martin, and Walsh below the 10,000-signature qualifying threshold.

Whatever the legal and political merits, the practical effect is the same. Anne Brensley — the MassGOP's own convention-endorsed nominee for Lieutenant Governor — is off the September primary ballot. Anne Manning-Martin, the other GOP convention qualifier, is off the ballot. Both fell short of the 10,000-signature threshold after the Commission rejected hundreds of their submitted signatures.

What is left, on a Republican primary ballot for Lieutenant Governor that started the week with three candidates, is exactly one: Shawn Oliver.

That fact — and the unresolved question of whose narrative voters believe — is what the MassGOP will be carrying into the September primary.