Powell: Disqualification signs still posted at polls

Public Service Commission candidate Jim Powell says voters from all over the state are telling him signs noting he was disqualified and votes for him would not be counted were still hanging at the polls as late as 1 p.m. today — almost a full day after a judge told Secretary of State Karen Handel she could not boot him off the ballot.

So far, Powell says he’s heard from voters in DeKalb, Fulton, Bibb, Wayne and Gwinnett Counties. He says someone who was working the polls told him that Handel’s office sent an e-mail last night saying the signs should not be posted. Problem is: No one checked their e-mail before heading out in the morning before they manned the polls. This one location only received a phone call at 12:10 p.m. telling them to take down the signs, the worker told him.

Handel determined Powell did not meet eligibility requirements on July 10. Click here to read Handel’s July 10 ruling. Powell says he was not able to confirm her ruling until yesterday morning.

“I spent over 35 years with the U. S. Government and I have seen a lot of things, I would have expected someone at Karen Handel’s level to have conducted herself more professionally,” Powell writes in an e-mail. “The citizens of Georgia should be outraged. Handel didn’t seem to have any problems getting my name off the ballot; it is unfortunate that she had so much difficulty getting my name back on the ballot.”

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