.jpg)
Headline Surfer file photo / Jeff Bracy, shown here from a meeting last summer when he was on the Oak Hill Personnel Board discussing the future of then-Police Chief Diane Young, is now a city commissioner-elect.
OAK HILL -- The city clerk has disqualified two candidates for commission seats because she erred in qualifying them in the first place because their campaign finances were not secured when qualifying officially ended.
This morning's action now means instead of three races in the November elections there will only one -- that of mayor.
"I spoke with the city attorney and the supervisor of elections and changed my mind," City Clerk Kohn Evans said this afternoon of her initial qualifying of the candidacies of Lyn Seaward and Robert Livingston. "It was a procedural error on my part that was corrected by taking this action."
Kohn's reversal means Jeff Bracy, a one-time mayor and former commissioner is elected to one of the seats and Robert Livinston, the other. Their opponents, respectively, were Seward and Dnielle Larkowski.
Bracy, who had threatened to sue, his only recourse, had Evans not reversed course, said he was pleased with the city clerk's change of heart, saying in part, "What's right is right. I have a renewed respect for Kohn Evans."
Seward said she was disappointed about the change of events, but doesn't blame Evans.
"It's the elections office's fault," Seward stressed. "They called her and told her she could accept the check and then they changed their mind. I don't blame Kohn whatsoever. It may very well have been wrong for me waiting until the end, but I have a pretty full plate in my life taking care of two very sick people, including my husband."
Seward, a fixture at city commission meetings, said the only reason Bracy made a big deal out of this is "because he's insecure," adding, "I wasn't just going to let him skate in."
Seward said it's ashamed that the only race now is for mayor between incumbents Linda Hyatt and Doug Gibson and that one of them has to go.
"They both should stay to even it out," Seward said. As for whether a representative of the office Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall gave Kohn bad advice to begin with, Evans said she was "not going to get into any finger pointing," adding both City Attorney Scott Simpson and McFall, herself, weighed in and helped her in her decision to "right a wrong."
Editor's Note: Here is an exchange of emails between Evans, Simpson, McFall and a state elections official, which the city clerk forwarded to Headline Surfer earlier this afternoon (extraneous coding and excess contact info deleted):
From: Scott Simpson [
mailto:scott.scottsimpsonlaw@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 11:17 AM To: Holland, Gary J. Cc: Ann McFall; Daniel Eckert; Karen Harris; Gary Holland; Kohn Evans Subject:
Re: Oak Hill Qualifying Issue
Everyone: A quick question. As I understand it, these individuals filed all the necessary paperwork before the end of qualifying but the campaign account was created and the qualifying fee was paid after the end of the qualifying period. Do these candidates qualify as write-in candidates?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 11:13 AM, Holland, Gary J. wrote: I agree. The city should provide you a written document directing you to remove them from the ballot. The document should explain why the city is directing you to do so.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent from my iPhone On Jun 20, 2012, at 11:08 AM, "Ann McFall"
wrote: Thank goodness Oak Hill has just the General election on Nov. 6, 2012. It is not too late. The only issue is I am not the one to make that decision especially if the people being removed challenges the City in court. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ann: If it is possible for you to have the ballots printed without the candidates names on them at this late date, I believe the city can direct you to remove them from the ballot. By way I example, during the judicial qualifying period in April, the Division qualified a candidate and about a week later the Division discovered an error in her qualifying papers. At that point the Division changed her status to disqualified and removed her from the primary ballot certification which had already been sent to the supervisors. So if you can accommodate the city at this point, I believe you can do so to ensure disqualified candidates do not appear on the ballot. However, if the ballots have been finalized and printed, it may be more of a problem and the court order may be necessary.
Assistant General Counsel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Jun 20, 2012, at 10:43 AM, "Ann McFall" wrote:
Kohn: It is not my responsibility to give legal advice to a >> municipality. In Scott's e mail below he provides that it is a court of law that removes someone from the ballot after qualifying ends. Please call the Division of Elections @850/245-6536 for confirmation as to whether you have the authority to "unqualify" some one after qualifying closes. I am forwarding this e mail to Gary Holland with the Division of Elections.
125 W. New York Av. DeLand, Florida 32720-4208
(386) 804-2507 (County Cell) (386) 736-5930 Ext 12565 (386) 254-4690 Ext 12565 (386) 423-3311 Ext 12565
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am contacting you to ensure you understand that I completely concur with the City Attorney's statement below; the two candidates did not legally qualify before the deadline due to my misinterpretation and therefore should be removed from the ballot. It has been stated that this can only be done by court order and that decision will be excepted; yet if there is a way the candidates can be removed please have this done. Please confirm if a court order is needed. Thank you for your time in this matter.
Kohn Evans City ClerkCity of Oak Hill 386-345-3522
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Ann McFall Cc: Kohn Evans Subject: Oak Hill Qualifying Issue
You are familiar with the qualifying issue in Oak Hill. There is no question that these two candidates did not complete all of the qualifying paperwork before the qualifying deadline and this was based on the City Clerk's misinterpretation of when the State's qualifying fee was to be paid. I researched this issue and have talked with an attorney with Division of Election about this issue. He indicated that the law requires strict compliance with the qualifying requirements but the courts recently have created a judicial exception for substantial compliance with the qualifying laws. Therefore from an administrative perspective these individuals did not qualify, should not be on the ballot and staff should not be trying to determine whether a candidate substantially qualified. That is a determination for a court. However based on our conversations and your recent email, it is my understanding it is too late to remove these individuals from the ballot and that a court order is required. If this is not correct and there is time to remove these individuals from the ballot, this should be done. Please confirm that it is too late to remove the candidates from the ballot absent a court order.
