MACON COUNTY, Ga. — Last week, Macon County's Board of Elections unanimously voted to remove the Democratic Sheriff Candidate Jeffrey Canady from the November ballot.
Today, his name is back on the ballot.
The board met at the Macon County courthouse yesterday to reevaluate their Aug. 2 decision.
Upon learning about his disqualification, State Representative Patty Marie Stinson took to social media to advocate for a fair election that's inside her district.
She says she was contacted by Jeffrey Canady last week.
"My first question was, 'They based their decision on what law?' There was a bill that was introduced during this year's General Assembly session, but it did not pass. That bill had language in it that would prohibit him from running for office," Stinson said.
Stinson said the bill, House Bill 424, included language stating that anyone interested in running for sheriff had to be in good standing with the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council (POST).
As previously reported, Canady qualified to run in the Democratic Primary in May, but his sheriff's certification status was "pending" under a review by POST.
Because House Bill 424 did not pass, that status is allowed in the qualifying rules.
In June, his certification was revoked by the council and they said they never received an appeal from Canady.
His certification was revoked after he took a guilty plea for a misdemeanor charge in 2019. At the time, he was employed by the Macon County School District and pleaded guilty.
State law says that candidates have until six months after taking office to become POST certified. Due to this, the board would have to remove him six months later if he won.
But Rep. Stinson says there are no laws preventing Canady from running in this election.
"They reviewed all of the information that was presented to them and they decided to reverse their decision," Stinson said. "They did the right thing because had they stayed on point with trying to disqualify him, this could very well have turned into a legal battle for the Macon County Board of Elections."
A representative with the board confirms members met Tuesday afternoon for a scheduled meeting to reevaluate the information presented to them.
They received concerns from the community about the decision over the weekend, as well as an appeal letter sent from Canady's attorney, but the representative says it was not just a letter that they obtained from the attorney that led to the vote.
Board members had already begun to express they wanted review documents again last week.
Four members of the board voted unanimously on a second round of voting to reverse their decision on Canady's candidacy.
The representative shared with 13WMAZ the vote did not include board chair Janice Pool, as she resigned from her position after the first round of voting on Tuesday when she did not want to reverse her decision.
Pool was going into her third year as board chair.
Stinson said she commends the board for immediately taking action on their decision. She also wants voters to engage in every race on the November ballot.
"I just want to make sure that all the elections in house issue 150 across the entire state of Georgia, are fair, consistent and according to code sections," Stinson said. "I just want everyone to stay focused on fairness for this election, everyone getting registered to vote, and everyone voting the entire ballot."