Judge Calls for Another Election for Macon-Bibb District 2 Commission Seat

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – There will be another election in Macon-Bibb County for the District 2 commission seat after a judge’s order Tuesday afternoon.

Commission candidate Henry Ficklin and his legal team called for a hearing after they found 48 voters were assigned to the wrong district because they lived in an apartment complex that split between District 2 and 3.

Ficklin lost to Larry Schlesinger by 26 votes.

The Macon-Bibb Board of Elections had no idea about the split, and assigned the entire complex in District 3.

Attorneys for the board of elections agree there was in error in the runoff elections.

Senior Superior Court Judge Stephen Boswell says he had no choice but to call for another election.

He said it’s unlikely an election will be held before the new Macon-Bibb commissioners swear in on January 1.

“The board of elections does not favor anyone candidate. It does not favor any one of these candidates over another. We simply want to have a fair elections process and we will do everything we can to make that happen,” William Noland, attorney for the board of elections, said.

“I think that voters really feel that they want it done right. This is the United States and we’re all here, and we are proud of the country we live in. We should have the assurance of knowing that when we go and vote that the election is done right,” Henry Ficklin said.

“We contend that the Board of Elections really needs some sort of supervision in order to finally get it right, because this will the third time we’ve had an election and we just don’t want a fourth time to have to do this because there was irregularities in this upcoming election,” Larry Schlesinger said .

All parties agreed, the runoff was flawed and a more efficient election process needs to take place.

A date has not been set for the next election.