No resolution yet in Etowah Commission District 5 election contest

When the Etowah County Democratic Executive Committee met Saturday morning to hear the contest of election results for county commission District 5, things didn't proceed as most of those gathered had expected.

After heated discussion, the assembly brought no resolution to the election challenge, as it quickly became evident that differing interpretations of party bylaws needed to be resolved, as well as the issues regarding the commission race.

Carolyn Parker contested the May 24 primary results, which found Jeffery Washington winning the commission race by 97 votes, after a number of complaints about ballot issues in that race and others. One day after the vote, Secretary of State John Merrill and Etowah County Probate Judge Scott Hassell issued a joint statement saying there had been uncorrected issues in updating voter information after redistricting that negatively affected candidates and voters in some areas.

Primary questions: Officials say redistricting error impacted House, commission races

At the scheduled hearing, Chairman Charles Abney said in addition to the election contest, Parker and her attorney, Christie Knowles, had filed a "show cause" motion Friday asking the party to disqualify Washington as a candidate because he failed to file campaign finance forms by deadlines, and had represented to the party that he had filed them.

Because Washington's attorney, John Floyd, had not had time to prepare a response, Abney said, that issue would be heard at a later time.

Abney said there were only 11 executive committee members present, when bylaws require 20 members for a quorum. Because there was no quorum, he said, the election contest would be sent to the state Democratic Executive Committee.

His interpretation of the bylaws was that people who did not run for executive committee seats in the recently certified primary couldn't vote and count toward a quorum. The meeting was adjourned, and Abney and perhaps others left.

Maitland Adams, a former chairman of the party, and several others present didn't agree with that reading of the rules. Their interpretation was that committee members should continue to serve until another committee was in place.

They called roll and counted 23 executive committee members present.

Knowles said if there were only 11 executive committee members, the committee was defunct — unable to vote on anything because of a lack of a quorum. Some present challenged the ability to declare the meeting open, or adjourn it, if leaders didn't believe they have enough members for a quorum.

She contended some members of the executive committee decided the outcome — or lack of it — for Saturday's meeting in advance. "I don't know why they don't want you to decide this," Knowles said to the rest of the committee members.

Edward Cunningham pointed out that Parker still will get a hearing of her contest, through the state Democratic Executive Committee. Had there been a hearing and ruling from the local party, he and others said it likely would have been appealed to the state party anyway.

Vice Chair Kyle Pierce said Saturday's meeting was scheduled to meet the timetable for election contests. Candidates have 24 hours to contest; the party has five days to hold a hearing.

"It's terrible that we are in this position," Pierce said, with questions about who is or is not on the executive committee. "It was the opinion of the chairman that there was not a quorum."

Concerns voiced

Those attending expressed concern at getting the election right. Mary Carstarphen Kelley, chair of the Etowah County Voter's League, stressed the importance of standing up for "one person, one vote."

"It's poetic justice that the Republicans screwed up" in this matter, she said. "If you're still part of the party that cares about this country," Carstarphen Kelley said, you must make a stand. "You can't say it's OK."

It's especially important to many voters in District 5. Fred Zackery said it took a long battle and two trips to the Supreme Court to establish a majority African-American district in Etowah County to ensure that Black voters have the opportunity to elect a Black representative to the county's governing body.

District 5 was the only local race that drew Democratic candidates, and it was the only local race for public office on this ballot with African-American candidates.

"It's an incredible screw-up that everybody wants to go away," Zackary said. "They don't care if District 5 exists or not." Zackary said he was not given the right ballot initially.

Another district 5 voter said her ballot didn't list the commission race.

Hassell and Circuit Clerk/Absentee Election Manager Cassandra Johnson attended the meeting Saturday. Hassell said it's not known how many voters might have been affected by the failure to properly update information. The Secretary of State's office is working to determine that now.

Johnson said there's no time to add the race to the runoff ballot; she will receive those Tuesday, she said, so absentee voting in the runoff can begin.

After the adjournment, others present discussed the possibility of having Vice Chair Vicki Lister re-open the meeting to hear the contest. They settled on having an informational meeting. Attorneys for both presented their arguments.

In the show-cause filing, Knowles said Washington "misrepresented" in his qualifying paperwork that he'd established a Principal Campaign Committee with the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State had confirmed by email that he did not. Knowles said she filed a show cause motion in addition to stating these claims in Parker's contest of the election.

Failure to file required forms, including financial interest statements, with the Secretary of State is grounds for a contest of the election, so the show cause motions should have been no reason for failing to consider the contest Saturday.

Floyd said Washington had an email from the Secretary of State saying he was in compliance.

Knowles said Parker had complained to county party officials about Washington's compliance and got no response till after the primary vote. However, Knowles said Pierce told her if there was a failure to file, it would be grounds to contest the vote.

Floyd said to contest the election, Parker would need to present evidence in the form of voters who would come in to testify that they would have voted for her and didn't have the opportunity to. Washington received 97 votes more than Parker on May 24; Floyd said Parker would need 49 voters to testify.

Voters who raised questions about the ballot they were given at the polls were offered provisional ballots; some at the meeting questioned whether some voters might not have cast provisional ballots, believing they wouldn't be counted.

Others concerned about the election worry that when the right local races were not on a ballot, a voter might have called family and friends and told them not to bother going to the polls — that they wouldn't be able to vote for the candidate they wanted to anyway.

There was talk at the meeting of rescheduling a meeting. Some members expressed disappointment that some of the party's local leaders just adjourned the meeting and left, and they raised questions about who received notifications about the meeting.

There were heated exchanges; there were times that former Chairman Thomas Worthy called down the speakers to keep the exchanges more civil.

Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: No quick fix: state Dems may decide Etowah commission race contest