By John Fredericks / Staff

Tuesday, July 13 is D-Day for Mary Norwood and her better than 23,000 Fulton County petitioners.

That's the day she needs to qualify as an independent candidate to make it on the November ballot in her yeoman's quest to oust Democrat incumbent John Eaves from the Fulton County Commission Chair. If she gets to the elusive finish line, Norwood would also be pitted against political newcomer Steve Broadbent, the Republican in the race. Norwood's independent bid possesses a classic electoral paradox. Her chances of qualifying for ballot access have been a long shot from the outset. But if she does prevail and gains ballot access, she becomes the frontrunner the next day. Therein lies the quixotic political intrigue of the race.

TWO HURDLES FOR MARY ON TUESDAY

Norwood must overcome two major hurdles by 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Both are daunting. One is within her grasp and control. The other clearly is not.

First, Norwood must submit a minimum of 22,700 valid Fulton County voter petition signatures to the county elections office. The former Atlanta mayoral candidate says she'll have that, plus many more, by the 11 a.m. deadline.

Assuming she meets that criteria, and the election board accepts her petitions for review, her second task is tougher. She needs at least three of the five-member Fulton County Election Board to approve her ballot qualification; regardless of how many valid signatures she's garnered. The problem stems from a missed independent ballot-filing deadline last week. Georgia election law requires potential 2010 independent candidates to have made their November intentions known by 12 p.m. on July 2, a full 11 days ahead of the signature due date. The candidate must file the appropriate paperwork, along with a non-refundable certified check for $1,245.51, to make the first cut.

Norwood, in an admitted internal campaign communications faux pause, filed her candidacy materials at about 4:40 p.m. on the same day, missing the deadline by a little over four and one half hours. But Fulton County elections official Barry Gardner accepted her filing and check, albeit with a caveat: the Fulton County Election Board might not approve it.

"I take full responsibility," Norwood said. "I was under the impression the filing deadline was at 5 p.m., not noon." Several Norwood campaign volunteers said the confusion stemmed from the fact that their petition campaign manager and longtime Norwood confidant Erika Barnes-Ford -- who previously served as Norwood's deputy campaign manager during her nearly successful Atlanta mayoral bid -- had taken a leave of absence on June 20, just 12 days before the 4:40 late filing, after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Volunteer Laura Millard said Norwood's entire signature gathering team, all volunteers except Barnes-Ford, was devastated at the news. "Erika made the trains run on time," another volunteer noted.

Norwood hastily replaced Barnes-Ford with interim campaign manager Anne Fauver, a former District 6 Atlanta City Council member, who had no prior campaign management experience. Fauver, a breast cancer survivor herself, was thrust into a position outside of her comfort zone out of necessity. "Anne has kept the signatures flowing," Norwood said, in defending her friend. "It was a tough circumstance for all of us, and our main focus was with Erika. The noon deadline simply was not communicated internally."

SO NOW WHAT, MARY?

The candidate, undeterred by the simple clerical mishap that could deny her ballot access, pressed on with her signature drive, hopeful that the County Election Board would show her four hours and forty minutes worth of grace.

"We have filed our intent to run as an independent with the county, they accepted our paperwork, and we are going full speed ahead with our signature drive," Norwood proclaimed on July 3, a day after the tardy filing. "This is about ballot access. This is all about 23,000 Fulton County registered voters who took the time to sign a petition so they could have another choice in the County Commission Chair race. This is about not disenfranchising 23,000 voters. This is not about four hours and forty minutes on a Friday afternoon."

THE "RODERICK" FACTOR

But Norwood's enthusiasm was dampened just a day later when Roderick Edmond, the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, sent her a registered letter saying she had failed to qualify as an independent candidate in the race for Fulton County Commission chairman.Edmond wrote that Norwood filed her official notice of candidacy, due at noon on Friday – as a matter of state law, at 4:40 p.m. that same day. He then threw her the proverbial bone, and gave her a hollow chance to make her case: "If you feel you filed a proper and timely notice of candidacy, you are invited to provide whatever information you would like the Board to consider as a basis for a statutory extension for your being deemed to have properly qualified as a candidate despite your late filing."

Norwood reacted swiftly. First she argued that the rules for the qualifying of independent candidates were not clearly stated on the county election board web site.

“Because I am seeking a Fulton County office, it would have been reasonable for me to consult with the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections website for information about the race, since the Board would be administering the election. That website contains no information that would have alerted me to the notice of the candidacy filing deadline," Norwood countered, in a posting on her website.

Second, sensing a pending doom within her camp and seeing her candidacy being written off by the media after the Edmond letter was leaked to the press, she requested a hearing with the full board, and maintained that Edmond, an Eaves' board appointee, did not have the authority to make a unilateral decision.

"I want it to be abundantly clear that my campaign is alive and kicking," she stated in July 8 memo to the press.

Norwood's lawyers then sent a letter back Edmond, requesting that he retract his letter of ballot denial.

"A decision must be made by the entire Board and not unilaterally," they maintained.

Fulton County attorney Lee Parks, apparently agreed with Norwood's request, and set a meeting with the full five- member Board of Registration and Elections under the Open Meetings Act on July 13 at 2 p.m. The meeting is open the public.

Not mincing words, Norwood then opened fire on Edmond. "We're certainly not surprised that Rod Edmond dismissed my notice of candidacy to be on the ballot to run for Fulton County Commission Chair, but happy that attorney Parks agreed to a meeting. Mr. Edmond was appointed to the Board by incumbent Chairman of Fulton County, John Eaves," she asserted. "His letter has made its way to the media and has been interfering with our ability to obtain petition signatures," Norwood said.  "The Edmond letter move was politically motivated."

"Let the people decide who should run for the Commission in November, not a partisan political appointee," Norwood stated.

THE BOARD WILL DECIDE ON JULY 13

Norwood's meeting with the Board of Registration and Elections will be held at the Fulton County Government Building, 141 Pryor Street, Conference Room 4056 in Atlanta, and it is open to the public. The Norwood campaign hopes to have filed their necessary signature petitions at 11 a.m. They are banking on a large turnout of supporters at the afternoon hearing to bear public pressure on open minded board members.

"This is no longer about Mary Norwood," said the dogged candidate. "It's about ballot access. It's about the future of political choice. The stakes are very high for every registered voter in Fulton County, regardless of who they support."

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR

Assuming Norwood submits the necessary 22,700 valid voter petitions, her independent candidacy essentially rests in the hands of four of the county's five election board members. Their chair, Edmond, only votes in the event of a tie, and he has already staked out his position. So unlike hockey, a tie for Norwood is a loss. There's no overtime and no extra innings. She needs three of the remaining four votes or she's off the ballot.

Of the four board members, two were appointed by Republicans: Stan Matarazzo and Vice Chair William Riley Jr.; and two by Democrats: Samuel P. Westmoreland and Cynthia Williams. They will decide Norwood's fate on Tuesday.

Richard Winger, CEO of Ballot Access, a national signature petition gathering firm retained by Norwood last month said that precedent for accepting late "same day" filings for candidates runs deep. He cited Texas as an example in 2008. "Both Barack Obama and John McCain filed late," he said." Libertarian candidate Bob Barr filed an appeal to keep both candidates off the Texas ballot. He lost." 

EAVES' CAMP WANTS MARY TO JUST GO AWAY

The Eaves re-election campaign, apparently determined to keep Norwood off the November ballot, had just a few weeks prior hired a high-powered and prestigious $1,000 per hour Atlanta law firm to challenge Norwood's early petitions on a technicality concerning the pre-typed in word "Fulton County."

Norwood filed suit, claiming the pre-printed petitions had been condoned in an e-mail exchange with county election officials, and asked a Superior Judge to intervene, and render a ruling. The Judge assigned to the case, Jerry Baxter, kicked it back to the county election board, saying the case was not yet in his jurisdiction, due to the fact that Norwood had not yet met the signature threshold criteria. The case is expected to be decided next week.