Judge rules to keep candidate off Hall Co ballot

A Fulton County judge upholds a ruling from Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who kept Democrat Maria Palacios off Hall County ballots in the May 22 primary elections. Palacios wanted to run for state House seat from Gainesville. Kemp ruled, and the Atlanta judge agreed, that Palacios cannot legally run since she did not become a US citizen until last year. The law requires candidates to have been American citizens for at least two years.

"States have fallen all over themselves to make it harder for people of color to hold office," said lawyer Sean Young with the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, who represented Palacios.

Young said they plan to "go straight to the Georgia Supreme Court" and will ask for the case to be heard before Labor Day.

The general election is scheduled for November. With no Democrat on the ballot, the Republican candidate is running unopposed as of now.

"We applaud Judge Schwall's ruling in this case, and we thank Attorney General Chris Carr for his office's effective defense of the Georgia Constitution and state law," secretary of state spokeswoman Candice Broce said in an email.