The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia has filed suit against Secretary of State Brian Kemp for removing Democrat Maria Palacios from the ballot in state House District 29, a district that has a 43% Hispanic population. Because Palacios is the only candidate in the Democratic primary, removing her from the general election ballot leaves Rep, Matt Dubnik, R-Gainesville, unopposed.
At the same time, Kemp agreed with the opinion of an Office of State Administrative Hearings judge to allow Democrat House District 51 candidate Joshua McLaurin to remain on the ballot for an open state House 51st House District seat. Fulton County Republican Party Chairman Trey Kelly is not happy, saying:
“Our party believes that McLaurin still must be accountable. The State Elections Board must now decide whether McLaurin violated the election code and, if that is the finding, he should be fined or have the case referred to the Attorney General or Fulton County District Attorney for possible criminal prosecution.”
Kelly notes that Vincent Russo, the attorney for former Sandy Springs City Councilman Gabriel Sterling who originally filed a ballot challenge against McLaurin, says: “the evidence, including McLaurin’s testimony, indicates McLaurin accessed Georgia’s online voter registration system to register to vote at a Roswell address although he was still a New York resident at the time.” According to Russo, “it is a felony for a person to register to vote knowing that he or she does not possess the qualifications required by law, or to knowingly give false information in registering to vote.”
If McLaurin stays on the ballot, he would face Roswell GOP attorney Alex Kaufman in the fall.
Georgia’s constitution requires candidates to be a “citizen of the state” for two years prior to being elected to office. The ACLU of Georgia argued in the Palacios case that she satisfies the definition of “citizen of the state” because she has resided in Georgia since 2009. But the Secretary of State’s office found Palacios doesn’t satisfy the constitutional qualification since she became a U.S. citizen just last year.
“For centuries, courts around the country have recognized that ‘citizen of a state’ means someone who is either a resident or a domiciliary of that state. The Georgia Constitution requires that candidates for the State House of Representatives be citizens of the state for at least two years at the time of the election,” stated the ACLU of Georgia in its filing to the Fulton County Superior Court. “Maria Palacios has undisputedly been both a resident and domiciliary of the State of Georgia since 2009, [therefore] she satisfies that legal requirement.”
