RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)—There will be two candidates on the November ballot for Richmond mayor.
Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr. has overridden the decision of City Registrar Kirk Showalter and ruled that the eight voters that she deemed ineligible to sign Michael Ryan Jr.’s petition were actually qualified voters, and are all citizens of Richmond.
CBS 6 reporter Joe St. George was in the courtroom when the decision was made.
Ryan needed a total of 500 signatures, and he collected 681.
He needed 50 signatures in each district, but he wound up eight voters short. He was three short in the 6th district and five short in the 9th district when the registrar deemed them ineligible.
Those eight voters lived in the right districts but were currently registered to vote in a different district in the city of Richmond.
Lawyers for Ryan contend that a 1974 ruling and a 1995 registrar document declare that those voters are still qualified.
In court last week attorneys for the City Registrar and the State Board of Election argued that State law has a “no appeals process” for any candidate running for public office.
On that day Judge Theodore Markow ordered a temporary injunction preventing the City Registrar from printing the November ballots until Ryan was given a formal review.
Joe Morrissey was the attorney for 46-year-old Ryan.
