UPDATE: The Board of Elections has since confirmed with the Journal-Herald that the ballots have already been printed. While Lucas's name will appear on the ballot, votes for him will not be counted.
Ware County Commissioner Timmy Lucas will no longer be on the ballot for re-election following his disqualification after a Ware County Board of Elections public hearing last week.
The hearing, initially scheduled April 14, was postponed to April 16. The issue facing the incumbent’s candidacy stems from the $144 payment of registration fees. A check submitted by Lucas didn’t clear his bank.
At the hearing, Lucas, his wife Sherry, and Ware County GOP Chairwoman Debra Giddens recounted their timeline of the situation.
Lucas submitted his paperwork and fee check Friday, March 6, the final for candidates to qualify. The check was deposited by the county GOP Tuesday, March 17, only for the treasurer to be notified Saturday, March 28 the check had not cleared because of insufficient funds.
Giddens said she had made several attempts to contact Lucas, but was unable to reach him until after March 31. The contact came after she had informed the Ware County clerk.
Lucas stated this was on account of fraud involving his AT&T account phone number, which required him to get a new phone.
It also was fraud, Lucas stated, that caused the problems resulting in his check not going through. Though he was unable to present any sort of letter from his bank verifying financial error or a problem, he did show the board a bank statement showing the name of a David Grant to support his claim.
“When I heard about it, I got it cleared up,” Lucas said, describing the situation as “a total mishap on my part,” stating it was not done on purpose. Lucas said he initially told Giddens after the incident he knew he should have an adequate amount of money in his account, along with overdraft protection.
When speaking to the Board, Giddens stated she was aware a check not clearing on account of insufficient funds would mean disqualification of the candidate. Yet, she argued in favor of Lucas qualifying.
“I would ask and implore you to accept the qualifications of Mr. Lucas because it turned out to be fraud in his account,” she said. “It wasn’t an intentional thing his check was NSF.”
Giddens was asked again about the timeline concerning depositing the check, as it was not deposited until 11 days after the qualifying date.
“It just didn’t get deposited on time,” she said.
Elections Board Chairman Danny Bartlett laid out the legality of the matter at the beginning of the meeting.
“Under OCGA 21-26(d), a qualifying fee paid by a check that is returned for insufficient funds is treated as not having been paid, unless the financial institution certifies, under oath, that the return was made in error,” read Bartlett.
He also emphasized the importance of the timeline, as according to law, there is a two-week deadline period after the end of qualification for the financial institution to verify there was an error. Lucas, again, did not have a letter from his bank to verify.
Sharon Vickers Montaro spoke before the board, arguing the check Lucas wrote was not written to the Board of Elections, but to the local GOP, which in turn wrote a check for the Board.
“The check was written on the qualifying day to the Board of Elections by the Republican Party cleared the bank,” she said. “If you, the Board of Elections, received a check from a candidate that bounced, that’s a no brainer, issue over.
“He wrote you a bad check, he’s not eligible. The Ware County Republican Party didn’t write a bad check.”
Supervisor and Election Board Secretary Carlos Nelson addressed this.
“Ultimately, this board’s responsibility is to certify the qualifications of all the candidates,” he said. “So whether it was paid to the Republican Party or not, that doesn’t matter, about the check from the Republican Party to the County. It matters, did that candidate satisfy the requirements of qualification?”
After the end of testimony, and a brief deliberation period, the board voted to ultimately deny Lucas’s appeal.
“The board’s responsibility in this process is not discretionary,” said Bartlett in a Board of Elections press release. “Our duty is to apply the law to the facts as presented. This decision was not based on opinion or personal judgement.
“It was based solely on the requirements of Georgia law, the State Election Board Rule and the facts before the board.”
As of this writing, the Journal-Herald has been unable to confirm if Lucas has filed in Ware County Superior Court to appeal the decision.
