PROVIDENCE — The state Supreme Court yesterday refused to intervene in a case seeking to reverse a Board of Elections decision blocking five potential GOP candidates from running for the General Assembly, citing the Republican Party’s tardiness in asking for help.

Despite the ticking clock on the election season, the GOP waited “some 19 days after the Board’s ruling and 12 days after the expiration of the statutory signature gathering period …” to file its petition, the decision noted. That delay proved “fatal to such a determination.”

“The timing of this filing, given the party’s prior urgent declarations … about the need for action before the expiration of these crucial deadlines, was not only ironic but, we might add, it is difficult to simply ignore in that it may have conceivably affected the show of the remedies which would have been available to the Court…,” the ruling read.

State GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione –– who previously said the Board of Elections’ decision reeked of corruption and political gamesmanship –– last night said he didn’t understand the court’s reasoning.

“I don’t think timing has anything to do with the law we asked them to decide on,” he said. “… These candidates’ First Amendment rights are being denied because the court felt we should have filed our brief faster. That’s incomprehensible to me.”

The dispute centers on where Cicione submitted the names of the prospective challengers, who sought seats representing Democratic districts in Providence, Pawtucket and West Warwick, by the June 30 deadline. Cicione filed their declarations with the secretary of state’s office. But the Board of Elections said he should have submitted them to the local boards of canvassers.

On July 3, the Board of Elections refused in a 2 to 2 vote to release nominating papers for the five disputed candidates, against the advice of its own lawyer. Since the next day was the July 4 holiday, Cicione noted, the party’s first opportunity to file a petition with the court would have been Monday, July 7.

But because that was just two days before the signature gathering deadline on Wednesday, July 9, the party felt it wouldn’t get a result fast enough to collect the necessary signatures and thus decided to wait to file the petition.

Democratic Party lawyer Max Wistow last night questioned that rationale.

“They sat on their hands for three weeks,” he said. “…Vigilance is required, especially when they claimed all along that time was of the essence.”

Cicione acknowledged that while state judicial options have now been exhausted, the GOP “is considering the federal constitutional implications” as it fights to claim seats in the overwhelmingly Democratic General Assembly.

Cicione declined to elaborate on what kind of federal action the party is considering, saying no decisions have been made.

“It’s an issue of resources, too,” he said. “The Republican Party is not cash rich … We have to decide whether we have the resources to pursue this or whether it distracts us from our other races.”

The candidates in question are John Clarke, who is seeking to unseat Senate Finance Chairman Stephen Alves, D-West Warwick; Elaina Goldstein, who hopes to replace Sen. Rhoda Perry, the Providence Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services; Lammis Vargas, who is seeking a Senate seat held by longtime Pawtucket Democrat John McBurney; Kofua Kulah, who hopes to challenge Providence Democratic Sen. Paul V. Jabour; and Damien Baldino, who is looking to grab the seat opening up from Providence Rep. Steven Smith.

cneedham@projo.com