Friday, August 29, 2014

Election Commission to meet in special session
The Cocke County Election Commission has scheduled a called meeting for 6 pm September 3, to address the residency issue and qualifications of two candidates in the November 4 election. Roland A. Dykes III has filed his petition as an Independent candidate for the Eleventh District House seat, and Kathy Hall Holt has filed her petition for re-election to the Newport City Council. The candidate is the son of the late Newport Mayor Roland Dykes Jr. Recently the commission received a letter from Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins suggesting that it meet to determine if Dykes name "may appear on the ballot." Goins says the commission has the responsibility to determine whether Dykes meets the one year residency requirement, pointing out that state law holds that "a person may have only one legal residence." Dykes was deeded property on Dykes Street in Newport, in 2006. In 2008, he and his wife purchased a home in Rutherford County and registered to vote there in 2008. Voting records show that the Dykes couple voted in Rutherford County in 2008, 2010 and 2012. The Coordinator of Elections says Dykes used the Newport address in two submissions in 2012, but in November of that year voted in Rutherford County. On November 20, 2013 Dykes registered to vote in Cocke County using the Newport address, however his wife remains a registered voter in Rutherford County. In May of this year, the candidate changed the address on his driver's license to Newport. Goins points to a state law which says the place where a married person's spouse and family have their habitation is presumed to be the person's place of residence, but a married person who takes up residence with the intention of remaining in a place other than where the person's family is a resident, is a resident where the person lives. Dykes may present evidence at the meeting to show that he is a resident of Cocke County. The issue with regard to Alderwoman Holt is that she recently filed a petition for an Order of Protection, with the address of Hemlock Street, an address outside of the city limits. That issue earlier this year was investigated by Fourth Judicial District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn. The complaint argued that Holt is not a legal resident of Newport and therefore can not serve on it's city council. Dunn later said "I find that there is insufficient evidence to determine that the subject's "residence" for electoral purposes, is anything other than her stated residence of Ratcliff Street, Newport." The prosecutor adds that the utility bills for Ratcliff Street are sent to Ms. Holt at Hemlock Road, Newport " a county rather than a city residence." Dunn says under state law, a person's residence is a fixed habitation and to which, whenever the person is absent, the person has a definite intention to return. "Since Ms. Holt claims her intent to return to her Ratcliff Street habitation, under the statute it is her residence for election purposes," the prosecutor said.


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