ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court Monday rejected a bid to place the name of an independent candidate for the state House of Representatives on last November’s general election ballot.
Under state law, Andrew Bell was required to obtain the signatures of at least 1,255 registered voters to land a spot on the ballot against incumbent Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, in House District 85.
Bell submitted 2,200 signatures to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office last August, one day before the legal deadline.
However, Raffensperger ruled that only 827 of the signatures were legally valid. The rest were from outside the district, duplicates, printed names rather than signatures, came from people not registered to vote or were illegible, Raffensperger determined.
Bell sought an injunction from Fulton County Superior Court to prohibit any ballots from being printed without his name. Following a hearing in mid-September, the judge ruled against Bell, declaring that he failed to demonstrate the rejected signatures were rejected in error.
Bell filed an emergency appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court, which the court granted in mid-October. However, by that time, the ballot had already been printed and early voting had begun.
In Monday’s unanimous decision, the court declared Bell’s appeal moot because the election has been held and Drenner – who was unopposed – has been certified as the winner.
“An appeal is moot when this court can no longer provide the specific relief requested,” Justice Michael P. Boggs wrote for the court. “Bell seeks to stop the printing of ballots that have already been printed, cast and counted, and he seeks to compel the secretary to place his name on a ballot that no longer exists for an election that has already occurred.”