Austin’s Daily Commentary – February 9, 2024

Austin: Special elections held in offseason are often tedious for any number of reasons. But the ridiculous cloud that's over the 125th House race to replace the retiring Barry Fleming is just completely unacceptable. It makes no sense whatsoever.

C.J. Pearson is getting a lot of attention for a lot of different reasons, but the again, the doubt as to whether or not he is a legitimate candidate in this race is very real. His residency has been protested. I personally think they're going to find in his favor. But having said that, at this moment, the Secretary of State's office is still waiting on a decision from a judge as to as to whether or not, the residency protest that was lodged against C.J. by a resident of the 125th is going to is going to hold.

What would happen if he is disqualified from the race is that every vote given to him in the pre voting period, which has been going on two weeks, is just erased. And that really changes the entire dynamic of who can make a runoff. And the finishes one, two, three, how that goes I mean it is a genuine mess. Again, his residency has been protested by a resident of the 125th, and there is a possibility he could be removed from the race.

This decision was supposed to come down yesterday. I was told as of this morning it is still not yet come down and this is unacceptable. The Secretary of State has got to change this rule in future endeavors. You got to make sure these protests are heard and taken care of before pre voting starts. It is unfair to the candidates and it's unfair to the voters. What a mess. And that's the comment, I'm Austin Rhodes, AM 580/95.1 FM News Talk WGAC.