Fulton County judge refuses stay in Williams appeal

ATLANTA — A ruling Tuesday by Fulton County Superior Court Presiding Judge Tom Campbell isn’t the end of James Williams’ quest to get his name on the ballot for the state House District 151 race on Nov. 8, the language of Campbell’s decision leaves little doubt that Williams’ battle is an uphill one.

Responding to an emergency motion filed on Williams’ behalf by Albany attorney Maurice King seeking a stay of Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s ruling that Williams is ineligible to run for the HD 151 seat, Campbell wrote in his decision, “This case involves one question: Does Williams live in the 151st House District? The evidence at the hearing was undisputed that he does not.”

Still, King said Tuesday evening that the ruling by Campbell is only a step in the process of seeking to overturn a decision handed down initially by Administrative Law Judge Ronit Walker and later accepted by Kemp. Kemp originally ruled that Williams was ineligible to run for the HD 151 seat because redistricting enacted in 2011 based on 2010 census figures moved Williams’ Shady Glen Lane home into HD 154. Incumbent HD 151 Rep. Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, had challenged Williams’ eligibility based on his residency.

Votes cast in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for Williams were voided by elections officials.

“Tuesday’s ruling was an emergency motion we filed,” King said. “That failed, but it was a necessary step to move the process forward. This case is still pending in the Fulton County Superior Court.”

Greene’s attorney, Anne Lewis, a partner in the Atlanta-based Strickland Brockington Lewis firm, said her opposing counsel is correct in his assessment of the proceedings.

“Yes, the appeal remains pending after Judge Campbell’s ruling,” Lewis said. “But the question is where does the case go next? There are options, so I really can’t say for certain where the next stop will be. This case is actually scheduled to be heard by (Fulton Superior Court Judge) Jackson Bedford, but as (King) said, today’s hearing was an emergency stay request.

“I will say, though, that (King) made all of his arguments today and the judge ruled against him.”

Greene said he’s growing weary of the ongoing process.

“The secretary of state, Judge Walker and now Judge Campbell have all made the same ruling,” Greene said. “Mr. Williams is not eligible to run for (the HD 151 seat) based on the law. Sadly, we’re in this mess because of a failure (to place Williams in the correct district) by our elections office.”

Kemp’s office, responding to Walker’s decision after an Office of State Administrative Hearings on the matter, noted that the Dougherty Elections office had to reassign Williams and 76 other voters from HD 151 to HD 154.

“A Dougherty County elections official admitted at the hearing, ‘The whole area was wrong,’” a release sent from Kemp’s office stated. “The entire situation is very unfortunate. Mr. Williams relied on his precinct card and voter information to qualify for the state House, but due to county error, his information was incorrect.”

The release from Kemp’s office also said that his Investigations Division would monitor Dougherty County’s Elections Office and provide training for county officials “in hopes to prevent this type of error from happening again.”