Blackshear Police Department Major Robby Boatright missed the filing deadline to qualify to run as a write in candidate last Tuesday, effectively ending his candidacy for sheriff.
Boatright expressed his deep disappointment in the turn of events.
“I understood the deadline to be Monday, Sept. 9. It should not be this difficult to give citizens a choice in the election for sheriff,” he said.
Boatright said he is doing research, but may be out of options to run for sheriff this year.
Boatright published a notice to run as a write in candidate in The Times Wednesday, August 28, but did not file a notice with the county elections superintendent and did not turn in his notice of candidacy or affidavits of publication by the Sept. 3 deadline set by the state.
Under state law, Boatright was required to notify County Elections Supervisor Leah Ritch of his intention to run as a write in candidate. He then was required to place a public notice of his candidacy in The Times and provide Ritch with an affidavit and tear sheet of the ad.
County Elections Supervisor Leah Ritch said no write in candidates qualified by the Tuesday, Sept. 3 deadline. Ritch confirmed Boatright came shortly before lunch Friday, Sept. 6 to submit a filing.
“He missed the deadline,” she said.
Ritch cited Georgia Code Section 21-2133(a) which says the notice of write in candidacy must be filed “no later than the Tuesday after the first Monday in September prior to the election for county, state, and federal elections”.
The missed deadline and failure to notify the election’s superintendent of his candidacy is just the latest in the continuing saga surrounding this year’s sheriff’s race.
Boatright had initially indicated he would seek the Republican nomination for sheriff in the May primary. Such a race would have set up a rematch of the Republican run-off election in 2020. Bennett won that race by only 141 votes out of 4,085 cast.
He decided instead to run as an independent candidate.
Boatright submitted a total of 84 petitions containing about 1,036 signatures on the day of the July deadline for filing as an independent candidate. Boatright said he believed at least 887 of the signatures are those of valid registered voters. Boatright needed the signatures of five percent (or 636) of the registered voters of Pierce County to qualify as an independent candidate.
Elections Superintendent Leah Ritch and the Board of Elections determined Boatright’s petition had “material errors and defects” because electors who signed the petition in support of Boatright’s candidacy also notarized the petition. Under state law, electors signing the petition cannot notarize it.
Boatright filed a lawsuit contending the notary issue did not constitute a material error and defect.
In an August ruling, Waycross Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Kelly Brooks dismissed Boatright’s lawsuit.
In his ruling, Judge Brooks upheld Ritch and the Board of Elections’ determination Boatright’s petition had “material errors and defects.”
Boatright then announced his intention to run as a write-in candidate.
Incumbent Sheriff Ramsey Bennett will run unopposed in the Nov. 5 general election. He will begin serving his fourth term in January. Bennett won the Republican nomination in the primary May 21, defeating private investigator Grady Wilson.
