Ballot foul-up cancels Georgia Court of Appeals runoff election

GREG BLUESTEIN

Associated Press

ATLANTA - Attorney Mike Sheffield spent an estimated $10,000 in three weeks to try to distinguish himself from his election opponent. Now, he might have to spend more to separate himself from five opponents.

That's because the Georgia Supreme Court canceled Tuesday's runoff election for an open seat on the Court of Appeals. The decision came down about 21 hours before the opening of polling places.

Howard Mead, the third-place finisher in the July 20 general election, had argued for a new election because 481 absentee ballots in Laurens County misidentified him as Thomas Mead. In the end, Mead finished 382 votes behind Sheffield, just short of advancing to a runoff against the election's top vote-getter, Debra Bernes.

Monday's court stay prevents an election from being conducted until Mead can argue his appeal before the state Supreme Court. If the court rules in his favor, one option that Mead suggested is putting the names of all six original candidates on the Nov. 2 general election ballot, conducting the court election anew. If necesssary, a runoff would then be held Nov. 23.

If the court rules against Mead, the runoff between Bernes and Sheffield would go on, but likely not until the Nov. 2 elections.

Poll workers were asked to post signs at voting places Tuesday that explain the court's decision so voters won't be confused, Secretary of State spokesman Chris Riggall said.

Immediately after hearing of the court's decision, Bernes' campaign scrambled Monday to cancel its campaign commercials for the runoff. "We're canceling everything we can," Bernes said. "We've pulled radio, we've pulled some of our ads."

Bernes could not immediately say how much money she has spent in her campaign.

Sheffield said he had been campaigning hard and had looked forward to the runoff.

"There's no way to know how the election was going to come out, but I felt good about my chances. This changes the whole dynamic," he said.

Bernes, who led the six-candidate field in the July election with nearly 30 percent of the vote, said her campaign will adjust regardless of who she faces in the next vote.

"It would be disingenuous of me to say I'm not deeply disappointed because I am," she said. "I thought my lawyers presented a case that represented the election should go on."

The Supreme Court has not scheduled a date when Mead will present his arguments to the panel.

Ever the attorneys, the candidates would not predict what the court would decide.

"Putting words in the mouth of Supreme Court justices is not something a lawyer should do," Mead said.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Arthur Fudger ruled against Mead, contending there was no way to prove Mead would have finished second in the July election had his name been printed correctly on the ballots.

"Elections cannot be overturned on the basis of speculation," the judge said.

Helen Harper, the probate judge and director of elections in Laurens County, has blamed the mistake on Diebold, the company that printed the ballots. Riggall said the company corrected the mistake, but that it appears a previous, incorrect version of the ballot was still used.

All of Georgia's 159 counties use Diebold's touch-screen voting machines. The Secretary of State's office only compiles the databases and ballots for 109 counties this election. The other 50 counties either build the databases and ballots themselves or, like Laurens County, contract directly with Diebold to build their ballot files, Riggall said.