Judge to Norwood: Can't help you

By Steve Visser

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter ruled immediately Tuesday that Mary Norwood's failure to meet the qualifying deadline meant she would not be on the ballot this fall competing for the chairmanship of the Fulton County Commission.

"I can't get over the fact that there is a window for qualifying," the judge said. "It is a rule that everybody follows. It is just the way it is."

Norwood was asking Baxter to rule that the noon deadline that she missed on July 2 by four hours and forty minutes was not absolute and to allow her to qualify.

Her attorney, Matt Maguire of Balch & Bingham, argued that the Fulton County Board of Elections had ruled that it didn't have the discretion to waive the noon deadline despite no harm done to the process. Maguire asked Baxter to read the law more liberally, noting that the Texas Supreme Court had allowed both Barack Obama and John McCain to be on the ballot when both of their campaigns had missed the qualifying deadline.

Baxter said the law was clear, saying there had been no other case like Norwood's in Georgia.

"I'm not going to be able to help you," he said about a second after Maguire had finished his argument, noting that it meant Norwood could immediately appeal his decision. "I hope you appreciate the quickness of my decision."

Maguire argued that Norwood was the only viable opposition against Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves. Buddy Darden, an attorney for Eaves, seemed to validate that argument when he told the court that Norwood could force Eaves -- who was also challenging Norwood's attempt to get on the ballot -- into a runoff election.

Norwood said she didn't know whether she would appeal the decision. She acknowledged that she had not checked the deadline filing times for county elections. The former Atlanta city councilwoman and mayoral candidate said that in municipal elections the filing deadline was at the end of the day, not noon.

She said the more than 33,000 signatures she collected to be placed on the ballot as an independent candidate to challenge Eaves and his Republican opponent should outweigh the technical violation of a missed deadline.

"Thirty-three thousand signatures are 33,000 voters," she said. "We think that is important. That is why we are here."