VERO BEACH — Two city council candidates disqualified earlier in the race are back after the canvassing board heard emotional testimony from the pair on Thursday.
The move comes more than a week after former councilman Brian Heady and newcomer Linda Hillman were disqualified from the Vero Beach City Council race because of accusations from city officials they filed incomplete documents without signatures to the city clerk, Tammy Bursick.
But, the two candidates said they did nothing wrong and turned in what they thought was thoroughly prepared paperwork.
“I was disqualified for no reason. I signed every single form (Bursick) gave me,” Hillman said to the board before the decision was made.
By 3 p.m. Thursday, board members unanimously approved a motion to place Heady and Hillman back on the ballot.
“I’m glad they did the right thing,” Heady said after the decision was made. “I was always qualified from day one.”
City manager Jim O’Connor, a board member, said there was some obvious confusion – on both ends – about filing complete documents. He said an incident like this has never happened since he has worked at city hall.
O’Connor suggested that a special election would need to take place after the general election, since ballots have already been printed out.
During the meeting, Heady and Hillman contested to the board that they turned in all paperwork and that each document had a signature. Board member and city clerk Tammy Bursick, in turn, said she received all the required documents, but could not confirm if all were signed.
“I received all the documents, but I had no idea the papers weren’t signed until someone pointed it out to me,” Bursick said. “I made sure every document was in the file.”
One candidate, Hillman, filed a lawsuit on Monday against the board, demanding the board reevaluate its original decision to disqualify her candidacy. The suit states there was no public meeting held to discuss removing Hillman from the ballot.
In the complaint, Hillman’s attorney claims there was plenty of time for Bursick to notify her if signature(s) were missing from the paperwork, as she submitted the qualifying papers back in July, months ahead of the deadline.
Once received, candidates’ campaign finance and qualifying papers are scanned and posted on the city’s website as public documents. When Heady and Hillman were disqualified, their papers were removed from the site, O’Connor said.
Assistant City Attorney Kira Honse read a code ordinance at the meeting regarding qualifying papers for city elections. Honse said a candidate can be found ineligible if their qualifying papers are incomplete at the end of the qualifying period.
Hillman argued that she relied on Bursick to verify the papers before the city clerk took her filing fee.
“It was her responsibility to verify the signatures before she took my check,” Hillman said.
After the decision was read to put her and Heady back in the race, Hillman said she would speak with her attorney to discuss dropping the suit.
Others in attendance raised the question if files for the candidates might have been tampered with.
“The documents could have been sabotaged,” resident Megan Hoots said. “I implore the council or a bigger body to take this (matter) seriously. If a council member had any part in this at all, it is criminal.”
O’Connor denied the ‘conspiracy’ that someone might have gone into the candidates’ files.
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