Atlanta, GA, July 21, 2010.  Mary Norwood, Independent candidate for Fulton County Commission Chair, today filed a request 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 thirty thousand signatures gathered in 90 days speak volumes about what the people want,” commented Norwood.  “Voters clearly want to see more choice on the ballot.”

“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 13^th, 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 one 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.”

Monica Rucker was not hired by Norwood’s campaign or by Free and Equal Inc. At no time did Free and Equal Inc. have a contract or any agreement to pay Monica Rucker for signatures related to the Mary Norwood campaign. Any reports contrary to this are incorrect.

Monica Rucker apparently communicated with a paid petitioner from Free and Equal Inc. to get signatures in coordination with that paid petitioner. Free and Equal Inc. had no knowledge of that situation until after Monica Rucker went public.

Monica Rucker’s petitions were presented to Free and Equal Inc. and inspected as part of our standard procedures to ensure integrity. Monica Rucker’s signatures were found to be fraught with problems and showed a potential pattern of fraud. Those petition sheets were rejected and were not used toward Mary Norwood’s campaign. Free and Equal Inc. does not accept, pay for or use petition signatures like Monica Rucker’s that have such obvious problems. Free and Equal Inc. is submitting her signatures to the appropriate elections authorities for investigation and will fully cooperate with any of their efforts.

Monica Rucker is crying to the media and making threats in an attempt to get paid for petition signatures that did not meet basic standards. That behavior is unacceptable and Free and Equal Inc. will always stand up to rogue individuals like this to ensure the integrity of the election process, Tobin said.

Free and Equal Inc. has established itself as an industry leader for being honest, ethical and transparent. People like Monica Rucker wishing to make money from bogus signatures always creep in to the petitioning industry. Free and Equal Inc. is wholeheartedly dedicated to the integrity of our business and cleaning up this industry from people like Monica Rucker who do not respect the ballot access process, Tobin said.

Free and Equal, Inc., always works as closely as possible with government authorities and other organizations seeking to improve the petitioning process wherever we work. Many states are badly in need of election reforms to help safeguard against situations exactly like this in the future. Free and Equal Inc. is committed to following all proper petitioning procedures. Free and Equal Inc. will continue to work tirelessly for reforms that protect the election process from these types of fraud.

ATLANTA – Today, July 13, 2010, Mary Norwood, Independent candidate for Fulton County Commission Chair, plans to submit more than 23,000 signatures in her effort to gain ballot access for the November 2010 election. Norwood, her supporters and Christina Tobin, CEO of Free & Equal Inc., will present the petition forms to Barry Garner, director of Fulton County Registration and Elections at 11 a.m. at the Georgia State Board of Elections, 141 Pryor Street, Room 4075.

“Gathering 23,000 signatures was a herculean effort, and was only made possible by the groundswell of support from individuals in every part of Fulton County. Today, we created history by meeting one of the toughest ballot access requirements for an independent candidate in a county race in the entire U.S.,” Norwood said. “We can all be proud of our efforts.”

Norwood’s campaign team has worked tirelessly to produce the required number of signatures, totaling five percent of Fulton County registered voters in the 2008 election. Barry Garner and his staff will expeditiously review the petitions.

June 18th, Norwood hired professional petition gathering firm, Free and Equal, to amplify and reinforce the campaign’s efforts to obtain signatures. “It is a shame that candidates need to utilize professional signature gathering firms like ours to gain access to the ballot. We were pleased to augment the efforts of Mary Norwood in her campaign to get on the ballot as an independent candidate,” Tobin said. “Georgia’s ballot access seems designed to limit voter choice to two candidates from major parties. While this has been the history of the state, today’s presentation of the 23,000 signatures shows how important the independent voters’ voice is in elections in Georgia and other states.”

Norwood and her attorneys will present at 2 p.m. to the five-member Board of Registration and Elections, in Room 4056, her case for her to be a candidate on the ballot. The board will, at this meeting, vote to decide Norwood’s right to be on the ballot in November.

“Ballot access was never intended to have such onerous hurdles. In the democracy created by our Founding Fathers, any individual with the desire to enter public service should have a fair chance to be elected by the public to serve them,” added Norwood, who promises to assist other candidates in the future with their fight to gain ballot access in Georgia and other states.

The Board of Registration and Elections will also, at a later date, review the validity of several thousand signatures on a petition form with the word “Fulton” preprinted in the county space that was approved by the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections’ chief administrative officer and director. Norwood’s campaign is hopeful that the Board will validate the signatures by the law, their department’s written approval and common sense.

“Only with the name recognition of a Mary Norwood could this petition drive be this successful,” Tobin commented. “Georgia is one of the most difficult states to qualify as a non-political party member, even with superior name recognition in this effort.”

“My future political efforts will be centered on how to make ballot access in Georgia and other states more accessible,” Tobin said. “Georgia requires candidates from outside the two major parties to get signatures from 5% of the registered voters. That is the highest signature requirement in the United States. Because of that high ballot access barrier, Georgia has had fewer presidential candidates on the ballot in the last 30 years than any other state.”

“Another restriction to ballot access is that Georgia’s state definition of “political party” is a group that receives 20% of the vote for president in the entire U.S. or 20% for governor of Georgia,” Tobin said. “No party other than the Democrats and Republicans has met that definition in Georgia since 1912 when the Progressive “Bull Moose” Party got 27% for president in the entire U.S. The last 3rd party candidate for Georgia governor to receive 20% or more was in 1898. When a state like Georgia goes as long as it has without independent and 3rd party competition on the ballot, that is a sure sign that change is needed.”

Proponents of ballot access in Georgia and Norwood supporters will be in attendance at the 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. meetings at the Fulton County Government Center, located at 141 Pryor Street. The petition forms submissions will occur in Room 4075 and the 2 p.m. vote by the Board of Registration and Elections will take place in Room 4056.

“The board needs to let Mary run,” said Free and Equal CEO Christina Tobin. “Thirty-thousand people have signed the petitions to say they want to vote for her.”

Norwood came within 714 votes of getting elected Mayor last fall. Now a difference of four hours could keep her out of the race for Fulton County commission chair.

Sincerely,

Christina Tobin

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Mary Norwood Sues Current Fulton County Commission Chairman’s Campaign

Incumbent Attempting to Stop Norwood from Getting on the Ballot on a Technicality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Conference to be held today: 10:00 a.m. – 2900 Peachtree Road (The Peach Shopping Center)

Atlanta, GA, June 22, 2010. A lawsuit filed by Mary Norwood, candidate for Chairman of the Fulton County Commission, alleges incumbent Chairman John Eaves is attempting to block her name from the ballot for the November 2, 2010 election.

Running as an Independent candidate, Norwood must obtain signatures from five percent of Fulton County’s registered voters to be placed on the ballot. Back in May, Norwood’s campaign obtained written approval from the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections to pre-type in the word “Fulton” in the space provided for the signer’s county of residence.

Relying upon a hyper-technical interpretation of the law, John Eaves’s campaign claims that each signer must handwrite the word “Fulton” along with their address on the form. The Eaves campaign is being represented by former U.S. Representative George W. “Buddy” Darden (D-GA). This interpretation would void thousands of signatures already obtained by Mary Norwood and her supporters.

“I am more than surprised that our Fulton County Chairman would bring in big legal guns to challenge a petition form. This is a Fulton County form for a Fulton County election, approved by Fulton County’s Department of Registration and Elections,” stated Mary Norwood. “We believe that every single signature that we have gotten on our petition forms should count. To tell registered voters that their voice does not matter goes against our basic rights as Americans.”

In order to make certain that all of the signatures count toward ballot access for Mary Norwood, she is seeking an emergency ruling from the Fulton County Superior Court that the thousands of signatures she has already obtained on the approved nomination form remain valid. “This is further proof why residents of Fulton County deserve another choice for Commission Chairman this November. We need anyone who cares about ballot access or is a supporter of mine to come out and sign the petition,” said Norwood. “Let’s let the voters decide in November.”

Registered voters interested in signing Mary’s petition forms may call 404.949.9445 or go to her campaign’s website www.electmarynorwood.com for further information. Norwood’s campaign offices are located at 2900 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta GA 30305 and are open from 10am-7pm M-F, and 1pm – 5pm Sat and Sun.

Mary Norwood is conducting a Press Conference at 10 am, at The Peach Shopping Center, outside the Barnes & Noble Store, at 2900 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.

From CBS Atlanta News we have this story:

Mary Norwood Needs 22,700 Signatures To Run For Office

Written By: Rebekka Schramm – CBS Atlanta Reporter

Former Atlanta mayoral candidate Mary Norwood is running for public office again. This time, she needs thousands more signatures just to get her name on the ballot, because she’s running as an Independent. Norwood got 49.6 percent of the vote in 2009 when she was defeated by former State Sen. Kasim Reed.
…
Norwood has a campaign staffer dedicated to verifying signatures. She said it will be tough getting enough names, but she thinks her hard work will prove a point to the voters. “If I’m not willing to do this work now, do you want me to be your chair?” asked Norwood.She has hired a national firm to help her get the required number of signatures. Her deadline, by law, is July 13.