HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Houston County school board candidate and his wife are questioning what happened when the county board of elections disqualified him this week.
The board says they disqualified Clyde Jackson because his wife is a district administrator; but the Jacksons say that's not so.
"The board of education is telling a bunch of lies," Clyde Jackson said of the disqualification.
Beyond frustration, Clyde and his wife, Traci, are puzzled.
"Why didn't they address my wife? Because she works down there with them, first of all. Second of all, they have my number because my name is on the sub list. And then, we could have handled this, and we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in," Clyde Jackson said.
Traci Jackson does work for the district on a part-time basis. She works as a coordinator for district and school effectiveness, helping develop teachers and administrators.
"We go in, we model for them. We assist and support them with collaborative planning," she explained.
Clyde Jackson says his wife's employment didn't seem to be an issue when the district's deputy superintendent texted him, "Congratulations," after he qualified. He says until now, nobody from the district brought up his wife's job as a possible problem.
Traci Jackson works less than 20 hours per week with a yearly income of more than $68,000. Despite working part-time, her position is still the basis for Clyde Jackson's disqualification. According to Georgia law, you can't run for school board if someone in your immediate family holds an administrative position in the school district.
Traci Jackson used to be a principal, but she says her new job doesn't involve administrative work.
"That was the first thing I said, is that, 'When I come out of administration, I don't want to do anything administratively," she said.
The Jacksons aren't the only ones wondering what happened. Houston County NAACP President Jonathan Johnson says he thinks the decision was rushed.
"They wanted to come in at the last, at a runoff election, and talk about disqualifying a candidate. And that's not how this should have worked," he said.
The board of elections is scheduled to have an emergency meeting Thursday at 5 p.m. at their office in Perry. Their notice does not specifically mention Jackson, but it does say they'll address a candidate's disqualification.
13WMAZ reached out to the school district and asked if they brought the official complaint to the board of elections. So far, they have not responded.