Georgia elections chief allows state Court of Appeals candidate to survive residency challenge

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger issued a decision Thursday in favor of a candidate for the state Court of Appeals accused of not living in Georgia.

The Georgia constitution stipulates that judges “shall reside in the geographical area in which they are selected to serve,” and the Court of Appeals serves the entire state. Unlike some other offices, there is no requirement that a judicial candidate must live in the area he or she wants to serve for a specific amount of time before qualifying. Former Georgia State Bar Executive Director Jeff Davis, who is running to replace outgoing Judge Yvette Miller, qualified in March, listing his address as an apartment in Atlanta.

Davis will face Judge Tabitha Ponder, a part-time Cobb County Magistrate Court Judge who also runs a mediation practice, in the May 21 election.

But Augusta attorney Randolph Frails said Davis actually lives in Chattanooga and that the apartment is occupied by his two adult sons. Davis testified that he spent “a lot” of time in Chattanooga over the past couple years, temporarily living with his sister after a family tragedy and in a home his wife owns there.

On March 22, Frails filed a challenge against Davis’ qualification with the Office of State Administrative Hearings.

On May 6, Administrative Law Judge Stephanie M. Howells ruled that Davis was “not domiciled” at the apartment when he submitted paperwork to run for office. She cited testimony in which he said he did not have a bed or bedroom in the apartment, nor an underwear drawer,

“Most tellingly, he did not have a key to the apartment, a mailbox key, or a device to access the building,” she wrote. “To get into the apartment, he had to make arrangements with one of his sons. If an individual actually resides at an address with an intent to remain permanently or indefinitely, surely he must have a key to the residence to come and go as he pleases. In light of the evidence presented, Respondent failed to prove that he actually resided at the (apartment) with an intention to remain permanently or indefinitely. To conclude otherwise strains credulity.”

But Howells stopped short of pulling Davis off the ballot because of the language in the constitution: “shall reside in the geographical area in which they are selected to serve.”

Selected to serve means elected by the people, and since the election has not yet been held, the residency requirement does not need to have been met, though she suggested Davis may not be completely in the clear.

“If a candidate knowingly makes a false statement on their Declaration of Candidacy and Affidavit, they have committed the offense of false swearing on the date they signed the affidavit,” she wrote. “A candidate who changes his or her residence between the date of declaration and the date of the election does not cure the fact that he or she falsely swore on the affidavit.”

But in a Thursday ruling, Raffensperger sidestepped the question of when a candidate needs to meet a residency requirement by ruling that Davis did satisfy the burden of proof that he is a Georgia resident, citing evidence including active Georgia voter registration, a Georgia driver’s license and state taxes paid in Georgia.

“Respondent’s evidence of Georgia residency is not refuted by the testimony that he temporarily spent time between 2022 and April 2024 staying in Chattanooga, Tennessee, either with his sister or now-wife,” Raffensperger wrote.

“The record does not show that Respondent registered to vote in Tennessee or any other state, voted in Tennessee or any other state, or performed other acts indicating that he permanently intended to change his residence away from Georgia, although he may have temporarily left the state for periods of time.”

Scott Paradise, principal at Mine Creek Strategies, a GOP voter contact and political consulting firm, who is working with Davis, celebrated the win.

“This pathetic legal stunt was a joke from start to finish. It was a transparent attempt to try and prevent voters from deciding this election. Jeff Davis is not only qualified to be on the ballot – he’s the most qualified candidate to serve. That’s why he’ll win next week.”

In a statement to the Georgia Recorder, former state Rep. Robbin Shipp, who filed an emergency petition in Fulton County Superior Court challenging Howells’ ruling, vowed that the case would be appealed.