Back in 2014, then Lenoir City attorney, Jim Scott filed a petition with the Loudon County Election Commission to have another candidate removed from a ballot. David Cole, who had served on council previously, had qualified to run for council. City attorney Scott claimed that Cole did not meet the qualifications to run because he hadn't resided within the cooperate limits of the city for at least a year prior to the election. Cole's attorney, Joe Ford, disputed the city's claim.

Ultimately, the election commission voted 4 to 1 to remove Cole's name from the ballot. Cole initially intended to challenge the decision in court but decided to just wait till the next election.

In 2008, a Lenoir City mayoral candidate was was removed from the Lenoir City ballot

In a very tense and sometimes contentious meeting of the Loudon County Election Commission, Lenoir City council candidate, David Cole, was removed from the ballot for the November, Lenoir City election.

Lenoir City attorney, James Scott who had filed the challenge to Cole's qualifications to be on the ballot, was at the meeting to represent the city's position. Loudon Attorney, Joe Ford, was in attendance to represent Mr. Cole. Each side was given the opportunity to make their case to the five member commission.

The question at hand was whether Mr. Cole met the residency requirement in the Lenoir City Charter to be qualified to be on the ballot. The charter requires that a candidate must reside within the corporate limits of the city for one year before the date of the election. The November election will be on the 4th. 

According to Mr. Cole, last year he began building a new home within the city limits. Cole maintained that he began residing in the new home in October of 2013 which would meet the requirements of the charter.

However, according to city attorney Scott and based on a number of documents he provided as evidence to the commission, Mr. Cole did not move into his new home till January of 2014 which would not meet the requirements of the charter. In rebuttal, Mr. Cole disputed Mr. Scotts claims.

Ultimately, the board voted to remove Mr. Cole's name from the ballot. Voting to remove were board members, Betty Brown, David Chote, Jim Davis and Darlene Schrubb. Board member Sue Jane Hartsook abstained.

Director Of Elections, Susan Harrison, warned both parties before and after the hearing that if either planned to appeal the decision of the board in court, they would need to do so immediately due to the timing to get the ballots prepared.

Cole's attorney, Joe Ford, stated after the meeting that he would be filing suit with the chancery court Wednesday morning to appeal the decision of the election commission.

Below Is The Story From 2008

Sims won’t be on ballot

Author: Mary E. Hinds
Source: News-Herald

The Loudon County Election Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to exclude former Loudon County Sheriff Joe Sims from the ballot for the November election. Sims was seeking a term as the mayor of Lenoir City.

Loudon County Election Administrator Dana Zehner opened the meeting by consulting via a teleconference line with Beth Henry-Robertson, deputy coordinator of elections at the State Election Commission to get an expert opinion. Henry-Robertson said Sims was not eligible to run in the upcoming mayoral election, even though he was cleared to run for Lenoir City Council in 1999 because the law at that time read that a person convicted of a felony and sent to the penitentiary could not run for public office unless his or her rights were restored by a court order. Since Sims was convicted of one count of felony gambling in 1996 but was sentenced to rehabilitation, not the penitentiary, he technically could run in 1999. In 2007 the state legislature changed the law to read that anyone convicted of a felony, regardless of their sentence, could not have their rights restored unless by court order. 

Sims, who attended the meeting, joined in the teleconference to ask Henry-Robertson why no one, including the election commission, had been informed about the change. “I was not notified,” Sims said. “The local election commission didn’t know about this law either.” She replied that the state election commission was not charged with notifying candidates. “The candidates must educate themselves on the qualification of that office,” Henry-Robertson said.

Newly elected school board member Van Shaver, a former county commissioner, asked Henry-Robertson if that law was not retroactively punishing Sims for a crime committed before the new version of the law was passed. She said that was not the case — since Sims was trying to qualify in 2008 he was bound by the law in force now and he can only qualify if his rights are restored by a court order.

At that point Sims said he saw no reason to beat a dead horse, but he did express dissatisfaction with the decision coming so close to the election, leaving him no time to pursue a restoration of his rights in time to be on the ballot. “I wish you had done it earlier,” he said and then he thanked Henry-Robertson and the commission for their time and consideration.

Earlier Henry-Robertson said the matter was brought to her attention when someone left papers detailing the situation at the election commission office in Nashville. She said she didn’t know who left the documents, they were merely dropped off and no name was attached. Local activist Pat Hunter asked her if the papers had not been delivered to her office would Sims have been disqualified. Henry-Robertson said she could only speculate about that, adding the state election commission could not keep track of every candidate on the ballot in every county across the state.

Zehner said while the identity of the person who delivered the papers to Nashville was a mystery, the person who delivered them to the Loudon County Election Commission was not. She said Robert “Tooter” Robinett, a candidate for Lenoir City Mayor, brought the matter to her attention minutes before the deadline to qualify for the November Lenoir City election.

With Sims out of the running in the mayor’s race, that leaves incumbent Matt Brookshire, Gary L. Aikens and Robinett on the ballot. The commission also certified the candidacies of Tony Aikens, James Brandon, Bobby G. Johnson Sr., Michel Long, Donald Pace, Eddie Simpson, Jon Waliga and Curtis Williams Jr. for Lenoir City Council seats. Rick Chadwick, Mitch Ledbetter, Glenn McNish and Steve Shoemaker were qualified to run for the Lenoir City School Board. Bobby Johnson Jr. was the only candidate qualified to run for the Lenoir City Recorder/Treasurer position and incumbent Tom Peeler was the only candidate running to be the mayor of Greenback.

No one has thrown their hat into the ring to be the mayor of Philadelphia. Zehner said according to state election officials, unless there is a write-in candidate who takes the job, the only alternative was to dissolve that city government.