OGLETHORPE, Ga. — A judge has allowed Macon County Sheriff candidate Jeffrey Canady to take office after securing the most votes in a sheriff's race he was disqualified from.
The ruling came Tuesday in Macon County Superior Court after a legal back-and-forth over whether Canady could even run for sheriff.
Just days before the election, Judge Richard Winegarden denied Canady's motion to put a pause on the Macon County Board of Election's decision to disqualify him from the sheriff's race. However, he required the board of elections count his votes.
Central to the Macon County Board of Elections decision to disqualify Canady was the fact that he appears to be ineligible to hold the office of the sheriff.
Back in 2019, Canady was accused of using excessive force against a student at Macon County High School, where he was a student resource officer. He was accused of slamming a student into a wall during a disagreement.
He plead guilty in 2023 and, as a result, he lost his POST certification in August 2024, the certification required to be a law enforcement officer.
Before the election, Winegarden denied Canady's request to find him qualified to run, but he ordered that the votes cast for Canady be counted and sent to the Georgia Secretary of States Office.
As Macon County voters went to the ballot box, Canady won, beating Republican Richard Martin with 55.93% of the vote.
Advocates for Canady, including State Rep. Patty Stinson, say there is a difference between being qualified to hold office and being qualified to run for office.
Georgia law allows a person without a POST Certification to run for sheriff, but if they aren't able to get certified within six months, they are removed from office. A special election would then be scheduled to elect a new sheriff.
When his certification was suspended by POST, they said he could not get his certification back within the six-month deadline. But Canady says he hopes to get a waiver from POST, which could allow him to serve without POST certification.
“Maybe he will, maybe he won’t,” Winegarden said.
But ultimately, Canady's attorney argues the voters have spoken and the law affords him six months to get his POST certification back.
The county's attorneys, however, argue that this outcome is "absurd."
"The court is not supposed to interpret laws in a way that produce an absurd result," the county's attorney said. "This interpretation of this law about him not having to have this certification for 6 months, in this case, produces an absurd result."
Judge Winegarden says that a big part of the problem is that the Macon County Board of Election disqualified him too close to the election.
The board of elections disqualified him on Aug. 2, then reversed course on Aug. 8 and found him eligible. But then on Aug. 29, they disqualified him again.
That second disqualification was within seven days of voting beginning.
Canady said he is happy and ready to serve.
Asked about the certification, he said, “one step at a time.”
"I’m hopeful Mr. Canady will do the right thing, whatever that is," Winegarden said.
The Macon County Board of Elections has 30 days to appeal the decision.
