Former mayoral candidate sues College Park over election

COLLEGE PARK, Ga.,None — A one-time candidate for mayor of College Park says the election was stolen from him. Now, the candidate said he's suing to overturn the results.

"Just want to see a fair election," former candidate Roderick Gay said.

Gay ran for mayor of College Park against three-term incumbent Jack Longino, who won in a landslide.

But in a lawsuit filed Monday against the College Park election superintendent, Gay said the certified votes are false and do not express the will of the citizens of College Park.

"We believe the election was illegal and the election should be set aside. There should be another election," Gay said.

One of his charges said College Park's election superintendent and city clerk would not allow candidates to inspect data from electronic voting machines.

"We were denied a public viewing of the tabulation process," Gay said.

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No one from College Park, nor the mayor, would comment on the lawsuit.

This is the third time Gay has sued College Park. His two prior suits in 2003 and 2007 were dismissed.

Atlanta lawyer Matt Mashburn is a national expert in ballot tabulation. Channel 2's Diana Davis asked him about the suit.

"Anytime a ballot is outside of the public view I'm troubled by that," Mashburn said.

Mashburn said a judge will have to consider how many, if any, irregularities there might have been.

"The question is going to be whether there are individual irregularities," Mashburn said. "If you add those all together and don't trust the election, then the judge can set the election aside completely and have a new election," Mashburn said.

Mashburn said in cases like these, judges generally make their ruling quickly. He estimated it would probably be within a few weeks.

WSBTV