Mary Norwood Fights to Get on Ballot

ATLANTA - Mary Norwood lost the race for mayor of Atlanta by a razor-thin margin, now she is fighting just to get on a ballot. Norwood has to get signatures from 5 percent of Fulton County residents to run as an Independent for the county commission and thousands of signatures are being challenged.

Norwood's opponent in the race is current commission chair John Eaves and he contends that the forms Norwood is using to collect signatures aren't legal.

Norwood is now asking a judge to rule on the matter.

It will take 22,000 signatures for the former mayoral candidate to make it onto the ballot as an Independent.

"Georgia has got the most restrictive ballot access rules in the country. Any other state I would not have this task," said Norwood.

Eaves has now challenged the legality of thousands of signatures Norwood has collected, so Norwood is taking the matter to court.

"We have now been out there for a month with this form so we are very concerned we have people who though they were helping Mary Norwood get on the ballot who now will not be counted," Norwood said.

The nominating petition used by Norwood has Fulton County typed in and that is where the controversy stems from.

"This is a Fulton County form for a Fulton County position. You cannot sign it if you don't live in Fulton County," said Norwood.

Eaves said since the issue has become a legal matter he would only speak through his attorney. In a statement Eaves said, "The elections code is abundantly clear that an elector is required to complete his own information on a nomination petition, including the county in which they live, and we are confident that the court will reach the same conclusion that the committee to elect John Eaves reached."

Norwood has paid $50,000 to hire a national company to collect signatures and she says she's confident she'll get the number she needs.

"We are going to get there, I just want every single vote to count," Norwood said.

A Fulton County judge will take up the issue Wednesday and decide whether typing Fulton County in the forms makes the signatures invalid.

Norwood has until July 13 to get the signatures she needs.