Atlanta, Ga.- Mary Norwood, Independent candidate for Fulton County Commission Chair, filed a request on July 22 for a declaratory judgment in Fulton County Superior Court to reverse the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections' decision to ban Norwood -- asking the judge to allow Norwood to be on the ballot.

In the filing, her lawyers argue that the Board of Registration and Elections had discretion to allow Norwood on the ballot under Georgia law, and should have exercised that discretion based upon the Board's finding that there was no harm from Norwood's filing her notice of candidacy later that same filing day. "Well over 30,000 signatures gathered in 90 days speak volumes about what the people want," commented Norwood. "Voters clearly want to see more choice on the ballot." 

One Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections member, Bill Riley, agreed with that assertion. He commented during last week's vote that in his view, the Board did have that level of discretion vested in them. Riley's motion, however, went down three to one in the vote that ultimately forced Norwood off the ballot. "I believe that the attorney's for Ms. Norwood have given the legal framework to go forward [with ballot access]. She substantially complied," Riley said at the July 13 Fulton County elections board hearing.

At the same hearing, the elections board voted unanimously to accept Norwood's pre-printed ballot petitions, which were challenged by incumbent John Eaves' (D) lawyers.

"We believe we will have enough valid signatures to meet Fulton County's requirements to add my name to the ballot for Fulton County Commission Chair, which is vastly more than was required of my opponents," added Norwood.  "We simply want a fair shot at getting on the ballot.  Let the people decide who should run the Commission in November."  Norwood's volunteer team of database specialists as well as the national petition company Free and Equal, Inc. have analyzed the registered voters who signed the petition forms.  Norwood has had one staff member working on validating registered voters since she began the petition campaign.

On July 13th, Norwood's campaign filed more than 33,000 signatures on nearly 3,200 notarized pages with Fulton County's Department of Registration and Elections in support of Norwood's independent bid. "Mary's perseverance and sacrifice to be an Independent candidate is something to be respected.  In more than 12 years of work, we've collected over 1 million signatures for candidates all over the country, and we have never seen the sort of support we see behind Mary Norwood to get her on the ballot," added Christina Tobin, president of Free and Equal, Inc. "With the required 22,598 valid signatures from Fulton County voters, those voters deserve to see this happen in November."

Norwood said her legal team is filing her briefs this week, and maintained confidence that the court ruling be fair, however it goes.