MACON, Ga. — Bibb County Sheriff candidate Marshall Hughes is joining Ron Rodgers in appealing the Macon-Bibb County Board of Election's decision to disqualify the two candidates for office.
Hughes' attorney Joseph Siegelman argues in a 10-page petition that the decision to disqualify Hughes for not getting fingerprinted and a background check by the deadline goes against Georgia case law.
"Respondent's Decision was affected by an error of law because it departed from existing case law interpreting the qualification for Sheriff," Siegelman wrote.
Siegelman says that Hughes found out about the fingerprint and background check issue on March 16. Then, two days later, Hughes went to probate court to get fingerprinted.
But despite getting the requirements done, the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections voted April 10 to disqualify both Hughes and Rodgers in a 3-2 vote.
Under Georgia law, sheriff's candidates have a few additional requirements that other candidates don't have. That includes the fingerprinting and background check requirements.
In the statute, it says candidates must do this within three business days of the qualification period ending. Both Hughes and Rodgers did not do that, the Board of Election's determined.
But according to Siegelman, courts have found that other candidates for sheriff should not be disqualified if they miss the deadline.
In Rodgers' appeal, which as of now, appears as separate filings, his attorney notes that the board of elections needs to interpret the statute "in a manner most favorable to the candidate facing disqualification."
In previous court cases, they found that disqualifying a candidate for missing the deadline didn't advance the core goal of the law, and should instead be considered an instruction not grounds for disqualification.
But the petition also takes aim at staff for the Board of Elections offering different guidance to Hughes than another candidate received. They say one candidate was informed by an employee of the fingerprinting and background requirements.
When Hughes asked Board of Election's Supervisor Thomas Gillon "if there was anything else that Petitioner needed to provide to be qualified," Gillon didn't inform him of the fingerprint requirement.
He says that this was unfair and deprived Hughes of his rights.
"The arbitrary or capricious selection of which candidate(s) to refuse aid is clearly an unwarranted exercise of discretion that prejudiced the substantial rights of [Hughes]," the petition said.
Previously, Gillion said that those requirements were listed in an affidavit that Hughes signed at the Board of Elections Office.
The petition, which was filed on Monday, comes a week before early voting begins.