Reverend Lorenzo Heard isn't qualified for at-large seat - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

An Albany minister who wants to run for school board isn't giving up.

WALB News 10 broke the news this morning that the board of elections ruled Lorenzo Heard isn't qualified to run for the at-large seat and that some of the signatures he presented were forged. But Heard's lawyer says the fight isn't over.

All four election board members who were at today's special meeting voted against Heard's request.

They say it's clear that Heard did not meet the requirements to qualify to run as an independent candidate.

Lorenzo Heard waited until the last possible day to submit a notice of candidacy. The elections office initially rejected it, but later determined the notice was valid. When Heard was asked to resubmit it, he said the document had been destroyed.

Heard's attorney says that's the election officials' fault.

"You had a mistake made by an election official. What should have happened was the election office should have taken the petition and they should have allowed Reverend Heard to pay the qualifying fee," says Maurice King.

But the elections board says there were other issues that disqualify Heard. They say he failed to pay the qualifying fee by the August 6th deadline.

"You can not pay for free late. It must be paid at the time the notice is turned in, according to the code, that's the law," say Alan Pendleton, Dougherty County Board of Elections Chairman.

But the biggest red flag came with the petition signatures.

King says, "Reverend Heard was able to get more than 3,500 people to sign a petition for him within less than 48 hours."

But 2,911 signatures were required and only 1,672 were verified as registered Dougherty County voters. Elections officials say 13 signatures were clearly forged.

Ginger Nickerson\ Voter Registration and Elections Superintendent

"We had 13 signatures not accepted because the hand writing on the petitions were all the same," says Ginger Nickerson, Voter Registration and Elections Superintendent.

As for now, Heard's name will not appear on the ballot in November making Lane Price, the only eligible candidate and she says she's moving forward.

Price says, "I'm not making any changes with anything. If I have end up having competition, then so be it. That's what the law says and so long as a person gets on the ballot legally, that is absolutely okay."

But Heard's lawyer says the fight isn't over.

"Reverend Heard's name will be on the ballot in November," says King.

Heard could still run as a write-in candidate.

Heard also has the option of appealing to a judge to force the board to put his name on the ballot as an independent candidate.

Heard's attorney has five days to appeal to a judge.

Copyright 2012 WALB.  All rights reserved.