Law is very specific
Editor, The Times: I am writing to reassure the voters of Pierce County that their elections supervisor and board of elections follow the law.
The most important thing that I would like for the public to understand, is that I and the Pierce County Board of Elections are bound to Georgia Election Code. There are election laws that are just as important as other laws of the land. We do not make decisions without referring to code, case law and legal counsel.
I, as supervisor of elections, followed the law in denying the petition of the independent candidate. The specific law was Georgia Law § 20-2-170(d)(4) which reads “No notary public may sign the petition as an elector or serve as a circulator of any petition which he or she notarized. Any and all sheets of a petition that have the circulator’s affidavit notarized by a notary public who also served as a circulator of one or more sheets of the petition or who signed one of the sheets of the petition as an elector shall be disqualified and rejected.”
Contrary to rumors of the petition being denied because it had a staple in it, that was not case law. If I would have accepted the petition the way it was turned in to our office, we would have been breaking the law and subject to disciplinary action. The law is very specific and very clear about what is acceptable.
The requirements can easily be found by any candidate wishing to run as an independent. The terms below are important to understand the working parts of a petition and Georgia Code is very specific in how they work together. There is one petition made up of many circulated pages.
Circulator is a person who personally witnesses signatures/ swears before notary.
Electors are registered voters who sign a petition in presence of circulator.
Notary is a person who witnesses sworn oath of circulator.
Some laws may seem trivial to some, but there are important reasons for every election law.
We have an open door policy at our office and I hope that the public knows that we have always been willing to answer any questions dealing with elections.
We are glad that this is behind us and we are thankful for Judge Brooks granting motion to dismiss due to the law being “black and white.”
Leah Ritch, Supervisor Pierce County Board of Elections Blackshear
