Friday, June 03, 2005
Editorial: Scott voter registrar should step down
A mom and election official with two sons on the ballot has a higher duty to the public interest.
From the RoundTable blog
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Jerry, former state attorney general, is the likely Republican gubernatorial candidate, and Terry is seeking re-election as state delegate from District 1, an office he has held since 1994. As Scott County voter registrar for a quarter-century, Willie Mae Kilgore also should have the public's best interests at heart.
Upon such premises has the attorney for Terry's opponent, Democrat Rex McCarty, petitioned Kilgore to resign from her office to avoid the appearance of any partiality.
The letter from attorney Gerald L. Gray predictably and understandably aroused charges of rank partisanship from defenders of the Kilgores, including Terry himself.
What colors the Scott County situation more starkly than usual, however, are the recent procedural irregularities in the conduct of last year's town elections in Gate City. The outcome of the election was challenged in court. A three-judge panel nullified the results based on a variety of allegations ranging from improper balloting procedures to misrepresentations on absentee ballot applications.
Not only does Gate City now operate under what is believed to be the first court-appointed town council in the state's history, but all the members of the electoral board resigned in the aftermath of the successful court challenge. A state investigation continues.
Although the court ruling did not explicitly cite the specific conduct of the registrar, Gray has asserted that she was responsible for some of the alleged transgressions of election procedures.
A mom who is legally responsible for the conduct of an election in which her twin sons are candidates on the same ballot for two separate offices raises at least the hint in impartial minds of an apparent conflict of interest.
In the wake of a court's tossing out a previous election tainted by abuse, and supervised by that same office, the mom should bow to public propriety and step down.
