The state Board of Election Commissioners will refund the filing fee for a judicial candidate who, because of a legal challenge, was kept off the May ballot.
Board Director Justin Clay said after the unanimous vote Tuesday that he will immediately begin the process to refund the $5,559 paid by Valerie Thompson Bailey as a nonpartisan circuit judge candidate in the 6th Judicial Circuit.
"I was never placed on the ballot," said Bailey. "I wasn't just sitting around waiting, doing nothing ... I appreciate you saying I was treated unfairly. It would be insult to injury for you not to refund the fee."
Bailey paid the money on the last day of candidate filing, March 8, and was removed from the ballot by a specially appointed circuit judge on March 19 after a voter filed a lawsuit challenging her credentials. Bailey said Tuesday that the ruling prevented her from raising money or campaigning.
"I'm a believer in equal treatment, and on the surface, it would appear that this candidate received unequal treatment," Commissioner Stu Soffer said before making the motion to refund the money.
Amendment 80 to the Arkansas Constitution sets the qualifications for judges, including a requirement that lawyers be licensed for at least six years immediately prior to taking office as a circuit judge. Bailey's license was suspended for almost nine years after she failed to complete required educational training; it was reinstated in 2011.
The decision to disqualify Bailey prompted a series of challenges to other judicial candidates on similar grounds in courts around the state that led to three Supreme Court opinions just days before the May 20 primary election. The court ruled that three other judicial candidates whose licenses had been temporarily suspended for failure to pay annual law license fees were eligible for office, but said Bailey's appeal was moot because she had not acted in a timely fashion.
The court, which declined to rule on the appeal, said Bailey had waited to file an appeal or a request for a stay from the Supreme Court until lower court rulings in the other challenges were appealed. The other challenges were filed after the deadline for candidates to appear on the ballot, making Bailey the only one of the challenged candidates prevented from appearing on the ballot.
A.J. Kelly, the deputy secretary of state, filled in Tuesday for Secretary of State Mark Martin, who usually presides over the Board of Election Commissioners' meetings.
"My recollection was that three or four of these cases were decided together," Kelly said. "My recollection was that it seemed a little unfair that she suffered the consequence because she did not have the issue protected for appeal and it was really not her fault."
Clay said he sought advice from the Department of Finance and Administration and was directed to two situations in which the state had refunded filing fees. In 2002, a candidate withdrew after seven days and never appeared on the ballot. In 2008, a candidate paid more than was due for a filing fee and was reimbursed the difference.
The fee will be repaid from the nonpartisan filing fee account, which helps pay for elections, Clay said.
The board also voted to reimburse 32 counties for primary election expenses worth about $816,000. Clay said about 30 counties still have not submitted the reimbursement forms.
Metro on 07/23/2014