DeKalb County elections board grants Kelvin Kight’s withdrawal from Stonecrest City Council race

The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections unanimously approved at a Sept. 27 special called meeting the city of Stonecrest’s challenge to disqualify Kelvin Kight from running for the District 1 City Council seat because his address actually is in District 5. Kite’s name will not appear on the ballot for the Nov. 2 general election.

Kight said during the virtual meeting that he wanted to withdraw from the race after learning that he had applied for the wrong district seat. Kight said he gave the city clerk his driver’s license to make sure he could run in District 1 when he qualified on Friday, Aug. 20. On Monday, Aug. 23, he said city officials notified him that his address was not in District 1 and asked if he wanted to switch and run for District 5, where he lived. Kight told them no, he wanted to withdraw and asked for the return of his $450 qualifying fee. City officials denied the request, stating that he would have needed to have made the request before the five-day qualifying period ended on Aug. 20.

Kight again requested a refund at the special called board meeting, saying he didn’t know the boundaries of the district and had relied on city officials to check.

“They took my license, they went back to the back and they just came back out and said ‘yes, you’re fine, everything’s good.’  They knew exactly which district I was trying to qualify for.”

Amy Katz, an attorney for the city of Stonecrest, said, however, that elections officials checked the driver’s license for the purpose of notarizing the affidavit, which candidates must sign stating that they are seeking office for the district in which they live.