MACON, Ga. — Update:
Former Macon-Bibb mayoral candidate Shekita Maxwell's lawsuit against the Macon-Bibb Board of Elections was tossed out on Wednesday, according to attorney William Noland, who represents the board of elections.
Richard Winegarden — a judge from Gwinnett County who was brought into the case after all Bibb County Superior Court judges recused themselves — tossed the case out from the bench during the Wednesday afternoon hearing.
Maxwell alleged that the election was not secure and accessibility issues made the election unfair. However, Noland says Winegarden tossed the case out from the bench, and he says the judge is working on a written order as well.
Original:
Former Macon mayoral candidate Shekita Maxwell lost her challenge to Mayor Lester Miller by more than 13,000 votes, but she's asking for a do-over.
Maxwell filed a motion in Bibb County Superior Court calling for an injunction just a week after the election. She argues the election wasn't secure and that some people with disabilities had a harder time voting.
Maxwell posted on Facebook last month that she filed for the injunction, but it didn't drop into the court system database until this week after a judge signed off on her pauper's affidavit. That's something you file with the court saying you don't have enough money to afford court costs.
Maxwell's lawsuit highlights a few problems, like the long walk from the parking lot to the elections office, one of the early voting locations. She argues that could mean it drove people with disabilities away from the polls.
The suit also mentions mixed-up ballots, like Bibb County Commission districts 6 and 9, and house districts 143 and 145. While not connected with the suit, Bibb County NAACP President Gwenette Westbrooks called this week for the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections to make sure ballots are correct.
"Someone is at fault. And we have to make sure that, you know, it doesn't happen again. I'm saying this is a very, you know, we're coming up on an election in November. We have to get it right," Westbrooks said.
On election day last month, Elections Supervisor Tom Gillon told 13WMAZ most of those problems had to do with redistricting.
"We did an OK job with it, but we apparently may have missed a few streets here, a few people there. I don't think it's a large number of voters that were affected, but it was probably scattered around the county," Gillon said.
Of course, those mixups don't affect the mayor's race. Everyone in Macon-Bibb voted on the same two names: Maxwell and Miller.
Maxwell's suit also brings up concerns about election security. An apparent cyber-attack hit most of Bibb County's computer systems the week before the May 21 election. Miller says the board of elections is on a different server from the rest of the county and did not see any major effects.
"The public safety is running smoothly as ever. And there is absolutely zero concern with the board of elections," Miller said on May 14.
Last week, Gillon said the state is limiting how many computers the elections office can use to report voting numbers because of the breach. He says they didn't have any worries about vote totals.
Maxwell is asking for a new election in November. She declined to comment.