Glynn election board claims candidate’s signatures not valid

Glynn County resident Laura Khurana’s bid to run as an independent candidate for county commissioner hit a challenge Tuesday.

The county Board of Elections and Registration has ruled that her petition for the race of At-Large County Commissioner Post 2 did not include enough valid signatures.

Under state law people who want to run for office separate from a registered party must gather signatures of a percentage of registered voters in their jurisdiction in order to be included on the ballot.

Khurana, a public health professional who lives in Glynn County with her two children, says she plans to appeal the decision within the five-day period available.

The Board of Election hired an outside legal counsel who ruled that about 1000 signatures did not meet the legal standard necessary for candidate petitions, said Christina Redden, the assistant director for the county election agency.

Khurana believes that nearly 500 of those signatures should be counted as valid: those of Glynn County residents who printed their name on her petition, accurate personal information but who omitted adding a cursive signature.

“There’s not a question about their voter status, their residency or the authenticity of the person,” Khurana said, adding that every page of her petition had been notarized.

According to her campaign website — lauraforglynn.com — Khurana decided to run as an independent in hopes of taking partisanship out of local races.

“I believe that partisanship doesn’t belong in local government. It stands in the way of meaningful progress. Year after year, we’ve seen a pattern of candidates winning based on their political party, not based on their demonstrated experience, their policy ideas, or their understanding of what matters to the people of Glynn County,” she said.

The Tide brings information and observations from The Current staff.