Blackshear Police Department Major Robby Boatright will run as a write-in candidate after a judge ruled he cannot qualify as an independent candidate for sheriff.
Boatright confirmed Friday he will run as a write-in candidate in the Nov. 5 general election against Incumbent Republican Sheriff Ramsey Bennett.
“I’m most definitely still running,” he said. “I have too much invested not to.”
Boatright’s pending write-in candidacy comes after a court ruling Friday effectively ended his bid to run as an independent candidate.
Waycross Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Kelly Brooks dismissed Boatright’s lawsuit challenging the decision by Board of Elections Supervisor Leah Ritch and the Pierce County Board of Elections to disqualify his nomination petitions.
Judge Brooks handed down the decision Friday morning.
The five-page order upheld Ritch and the Board of Elections’ determination Boatright’s petition had “material errors and defects.”
Brooks specifically cited Georgia Law 20-2-170(d)(4) which reads “No notary public may sign the petition as an elector or serve as a circulator of any petition which he or she notarized. Any and all sheets of a petition that have the circulator’s affidavit notarized by a notary public who also served as a circulator of one or more sheets of the petition or who signed one of the sheets of the petition as an elector shall be disqualified and rejected.” fact nomination petitions were notarized by individuals who then also signed the petition as electors, which is a violation of Georgia election law.”
Brooks rejected Boatright’s claim the notary issue did not constitute a material error and defect.
Tracy Thornton, Beth Lee, Jennifer Martin, and Laura Lee all signed the petition as electors in support of Boatright’s candidacy. Thornton and B. Lee also notarized the petitions.
A total of 84 petitions were submitted containing about 1,036. Boatright said he believes at least 887 of the signatures are those of valid registered voters. Boatright needed the signatures of five percent (or 636) of the registered voters of Pierce County to qualify as an independent candidate.
“Simply, all sheets of a petition notarized by a notary public who signed one of the sheets as an elector shall be disqualified and rejected. The disqualification and rejection apply to any and all sheets of a nomination Petition that the offending notary signed, not only the sheet the notary signed as an elector. Based upon the facts shown by the nomination Petition, Respondents (Ritch and the Board of Elections) were required to disqualify and reject the nomination Petition. Petitioner has zero (0) qualified signatures on his nomination Petition.”
Judge Brooks also ruled on two other issues regarding Ritch sending an initial copy and then an amended copy denying the petition and Ritch emailing instead of mailing the notice of denial.
Ritch initially notified Boatright of his disqualification but sent an amended copy adding additional grounds.
Brooks ruled the argument “without merit” saying the amended notice did not delay or prejudice Boatright from seeking his legal rights.
On the email issue, the judge said the argument was “not procedurally appropriate for consideration by the court” but Brooks said it was the “most considerate form of communication” to allow Boatright to seek “legal redress sooner, rather than later.”
The ruling means Boatright’s name will not appear on the November 5 general election ballot.
Boatright will move forward with a write-in candidacy. He will be required to file a notice of his candidacy as a write-in candidate by Tuesday, September 3.
Boatright’s name will not appear on the ballot, but voters can write in his name on the general election ballot.
County Attorney Adam Craft, represented Ritch and the Board of Elections. Boatright was represented by John D. Carson Jr. and M. Klyne Weaver of the Phillips, Carson, and Phillips Law Firm in Savannah.
Bennett won the Republican nomination in the primary May 21, by defeating private investigator Grady Wilson.
Boatright is seeking a rematch with Bennett of the Republican primary run-off election of 2020. Bennett won the run-off by only 141 votes of 4,085 cast.