One candidate in the race for the State House District 142 seat is claiming his opponent is not eligible to serve that district.
Gerald Harvey says he received multiple phone calls from people in the district expressing concerns that James Frank Austin Jr. doesn't meet the residency qualifications to serve in the district.
Harvey has taken action with the Secretary of State's office to request that they investigate the matter.
Georgia state law requires a candidate to have lived for at least 12 months in the district they are running for.
Harvey says that voting records indicate that Austin has been voting in Jones county since 2006, which isn't part of the district.
"While I understand the importance of citizen involvement in government, I want to be sure that if one candidate has to live in the district, that al candidates do," said Harvey. "District 142 is probably the poorest area in Macon-Bibb and it deserves a representative who lives in the district."
Today, Austin told 13WMAZ,"I've been living in the district for quite some time." He said he's lived at 5464 Bethesda Avenue in Macon for two and a half years.
He said he'd previously lived at that address for four years, then briefly in Jones County, then moved back to Bethesda Avenue.
BIbb County tax records show that Frank and Sheila Austin have owned the Bethesda Avenue home since 2001. But they also list the Austin's mailing address as Horseshoe Bend Court, which is in the River North neighborhood of Jones County.
Candice Broce of the Georgia Secretary of State's office says that if they decide to investigate Harvey's complaint, they will request a meeting before a state administrative law judge. No hearing is scheduled yet.
