Columbus mayoral candidate disqualified from the race

Christina Thorington filed paperwork declaring her intent to run for mayor in December.

But she doesn’t qualify, according to election officials.

“She has to have lived in Muscogee County for two years, and she had not registered to vote in this county until 2017,” said Jeanette James, a qualifying officer with the Muscogee County Election’s Office.

James said she notified Thorington of the problem and mailed her the necessary paperwork to take her name out of the running. Thorington has since filled out the documents and dropped out of the race, James said.

That leaves three candidates in the race to replace Mayor Teresa Tomlinson after her last year in office. Those who have filed the Declaration of Intent paperwork are District 10 At-large Councilor Berry H. "Skip" Henderson III, former School Board representative Norma Elizabeth "Beth" Harris and Charles Edwin Roberts, a computer operations analyst lead at TSYS.

The Declaration of Intent allows potential candidates to begin raising money, but they can’t officially run for office until they qualify in March. The qualifying period for the May 22, 2018, city election is March 5-9, 2018.

This story was originally published January 8, 2018 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Columbus mayoral candidate disqualified from the race."