On July 13, the Georgia petition deadline for independent candidates, Mary Norwood submitted approximately 32,000 signatures.  She is an independent candidate for Chair of the Fulton County Commission, and she needs somewhat more than 22,000 valid signatures.

It is not clear if she can win any relief from the problem that her declaration of candidacy on July 2 was four hours late.  She will seek administrative relief from the Fulton County Election Board, and if she is denied any relief there, she will sue to overturn the requirement that independent candidates must pay the filing fee and submit a declaration of candidacy before the petition itself is due.  The Georgia primary is on July 20, with any needed run-off on August 10.  UPDATE:  the County Elections Board voted 3-1 not to excuse the late filing.  See this story.  The County will nevertheless check her signatures, in case she wins a court ruling against the deadline.  This probably means that a court will also need to decide whether to accept as valid her petition sheets in which the name of the county was pre-printed on each line.  Because she was running for county office, she used petition forms at the beginning of her drive in which the name of the county was pre-printed, to save the signer from the bother of adding the county name as well as the voter’s name, address, and date of signing.  Earlier a court refused to decide the issue, because at the time it was speculative as to whether it would make any difference, but now it probably will make a difference, if she gets relief from the filing deadline.