Attorney: LaJoye wins appeal of disqualification

A Superior Court judge has reversed the Muscogee County elections board’s decision to disqualify Republican sheriff’s candidate Mark LaJoye.

LaJoye’s attorney, Mark Shelnutt, confirmed the decision Thursday night.

Officials had yet to hear results of Democrat Donna Tompkins’ appeal, which was based on the same issues as LaJoye’s.

In his decision, Judge Gary McCorvey wrote that the law setting standards for sheriff’s candidates had the stated intent of ensuring such candidates were qualified, and the local elections board did not contend LaJoye was not qualified, only that he failed to meet specific deadlines for filing paperwork.

If a candidate’s duly qualified, then a failure to follow legal procedures does not outweigh the law’s intent and the value of giving voters a choice, McCorvey wrote, quoting a court precedent:

“Words limiting the right of a person to hold office are to be given a liberal construction in favor of those seeking to hold office, in order that the public may have the benefit of choice from all those who are in fact and in law qualified.”

Added McCorvey: “As shown above, Georgia courts long zealously guarded the right of a citizen to seek public office so that the public may have the benefit of choosing among those who are qualified.”

Citing other court precedents, the judge wrote that “the spirit or intention of the law prevails over the letter thereof,” and “it is the duty of the court to consider the results and consequences of any proposed construction and not so construe a statute as will result in unreasonable or absurd consequences not contemplated by the legislature.”

He ordered that all Republican Primary votes for LaJoye be counted, and LaJoye’s name be removed from any voting poll notices of his disqualification. LaJoye has no primary opposition.

The county elections board’s disqualifying four candidates this year had left no viable challenger to incumbent John Darr. The other contenders’ names remain on the ballot — the disqualifications came too late to change that —but McCorvey’s overruling the board’s May 2 decision to disqualify LaJoye so far means only his votes will count Tuesday.

Darr, who plans to run as an Independent, is not on Tuesday’s ballot.

The board on March 30 disqualified Democrats Pam Brown and Robert Keith Smith, and another judge upheld those disqualifications on April 21, after they also appealed to Superior Court.

But they were disqualified for reasons that differ from the case of LaJoye and Tompkins: They failed to submit fingerprints for a criminal background check by a March 16 deadline, as the law requires.

The board decided to disqualify LaJoye and Tompkins for failing to comply with another section of the state law setting qualifications for sheriff candidates. The board ruled they neglected to provide certified copies of their birth certificates and file an affidavit swearing they graduated high school by the same March 16 deadline Brown and Smith faced to submit fingerprints.

Shelnutt argued his client did all the law requires to prove he was qualified to seek the sheriff’s office. After qualifying with the Republican Party on March 11, LaJoye went to the elections office with copies of his birth certificate and high school diploma, and had office workers make copies for their records.

Though mentioned in the law, no form for an affidavit swearing a candidate graduated high school exists, unlike two others noted in the state code, for which the Georgia Secretary of State’s office provides examples online.

That third affidavit would be duplicative of the second one the law requires, on which each candidate swears he or she graduated from high school, among other criteria, Shelnutt noted.

He also pointed out that on March 11, elections workers told both LaJoye and county party chairman Rick Allen that LaJoye had met all the requirements of the law, before the board later challenged his qualifications.

Representing Tompkins, attorney Ken Henson made a similar case, noting Tompkins also offered to provide her birth certificate and high school diploma when she visited the elections office, but was told they weren’t needed.

Representing the elections board, Thomas Gristina of Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford said the board applied the same standards to all candidates, and had no choice but to abide by the letter of the law.

Even if election workers gave LaJoye inaccurate information about whether he filed all the necessary paperwork on March 11, no worker had the power to waive the statutory requirements, Gristina added.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Attorney: LaJoye wins appeal of disqualification."