| For Immediate Release | FFI Contact: Chris Riggall |
| June 7, 2000 | 404.656.5792 |
Secretary Cox Rules to Keep Randy Sauder on
Ballot in State House District 29 Race
Ballot in State House District 29 Race
ATLANTA … Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox today ruled that House District 29 candidate Randy Sauder will remain on the ballot as a Democratic candidate in the 2000 General Primary and General Elections. In an order signed today Ms. Cox ruled against a challenge to Rep. Sauder’s candidacy brought by petitioner Marston H. Tuck.
Secretary of State Cox rejected state administrative law judge (ALJ) Michael Malihi’s initial decision in the Sauder matter, which procedurally serves as a recommendation to Secretary Cox, the state’s chief elections official. Ms. Cox found flawed the ALJ’s interpretation of Georgia election law governing the qualification process for candidates, and endorsed the opinion and guidance of Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker. Attorney General Baker has opined that it is legal and permissible for a candidate to, during the period in which candidates submit documents to their political parties, withdraw their Declaration of Candidacy with one political party and re-submit it with another.
Mr. Tuck challenged Mr. Sauder’s qualifications based upon the claim that once he had submitted qualifying documents with the Republican Party he could not legally submit them with the Democratic Party, even though Mr. Sauder had taken the appropriate legal steps to formally withdraw his Republican candidacy.
Ms. Cox noted that the Sauder challenge was a complex one involving differing interpretations of state election law and procedure. “While it is unusual to not accept the initial decision of an ALJ, it would be unprecedented for this office to reject the guidance of the Attorney General, who both provides us legal guidance and would serve as our counsel should this matter enter litigation,” she added.
In her order, Secretary Cox addressed the distinction between the filing of papers and fees and the formal conclusion of the qualifying process: “It defies logic, law and practice to conclude that the mere filing of papers and appropriate fees concludes the ‘qualification’ by a candidate…There simply are no qualified candidates, in theory or in practice, until the political parties submit a certification of qualified candidates within three days after the qualifying period closes, O.C.G.A. 21-2-154, and to conclude otherwise would wreak havoc on the elections system.”
Secretary Cox in her order noted that the relevant provision in Georgia election law was enacted following the 1974 race for Governor, in which former Macon Mayor Ronnie Thompson qualified and ran both as a Democratic and Republican candidate for that office, a form of candidate “double dipping.”
Under Georgia law a party to a candidate challenge may appeal the Secretary of State’s decision in Fulton Superior Court.
An election for President and Commander in Chief of the Military must strive to be above reproach. Our public institutions must give the public confidence that a presidential candidate has complied with the election process that is prescribed by our Constitution and laws. It is only after a presidential candidate satisfies the rules of such a process that he/she can expect members of the public, regardless of their party affiliations, to give him/her the respect that the Office of President so much deserves.
I'd like to believe there is hope, but after reading that the 2000 SoS Cathy Cox was a Democrat, it's obvious why she went against Judge Malihi's recommendation and kept the Democrat candidate on the ballot. I don't think that leaves much hope for a current Republican SoS (Kemp) to go against Judge Malihi's recommend, who is also a Repub. Hope I'm wrong.
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