A hearing scheduled Wednesday afternoon on a lawsuit filed by six Banks County residents over election violations that they believe occurred was postponed after their attorney filed a motion asking that the case be transferred to federal court in Gainesville.
Bobby Caudell, Pat Westmoreland, Ray Holcomb, Robert Marshburn, Keith Rucker and Henry Taylor IV filed the lawsuit against Probate Judge Betty Thomas. Thomas' attorney filed a counter motion asking that the case remain in Banks County Superior Court. A hearing will be scheduled after this issue is resolved.
The lawsuit is over the wording on the ballot where seats on the Banks County Board of Commissioners are listed as “post” instead of “district.”
“If you are going to do it in districts, do it,” Caudell said in an earlier interview. “If it isn’t right, get it right.”
The July ballot listed the Post 1 candidates as Rickey Cain, Danny Maxwell and Sam Moon, and the Post 3 candidates as Sammy Reece and Keith Segars. Caudell points out these BOC seats are now district seats and should have been listed as such on the ballot.
The November 2 ballot also lists posts instead of districts.
“There is no doubt that the election was done wrong,” Caudell said. “We’ve elected two commissioners to posts that don’t exist. They should have been elected to districts.”
In the past, the Post 1 seat was the chairman’s seat so the citizens who filed the lawsuit believe listing the District 1 commissioner seat as Post 1 may have been confusing to some voters.
The lawsuit states: “The defendant (Judge Thomas) has prepared and promulgated a ballot that does not comply with the requirements of law because it does not use the proper title of the respective offices the candidates are seeking.”
OTHER CONCERNS
The citizens also have concerns with the district map that was created when the BOC changed to a five-member board, as well as the legislation on the change of government.
As for the district map, the citizens say the district lines were drawn according to where the voter precincts are located and not according to population.
“They tried to rush it through,” Caudell said of the district map. “They did it too quickly. They were just drawn for convenience.”
Guys find a place to sit in front of the court house and pass the time and save us all alot of money. Just put in a request to change the wording and in simple terms discuss the issue and it can be changed. DO I CARE THAT IT IS CALLED A POST OR A DISTRICT? NO!!!
Do you really think this confused voters? probably not. If it did confuse someone then the confused person probably isn't mentally capable of casting a vote
WIN
If you are really so upset about wasted money you should take back your entire comment.
this in court until your voting rights have been violated and then in federal court.
I believe everybody's voting rights have be violated. Quit your winning and just wait until the court rules.
This is a simple fix no lawsuit should have been filed because of wasting taxpayer money!!!
"You cannot challenge
this in court until your voting rights have been violated and then in federal court."