A candidate for the District 2 seat on the Martin County Commission is alleging in a lawsuit that one of his opponents should be removed from the ballot for failing to meet the residency requirements.
According to the lawsuit, filed June 17 in Martin County Circuit Court, Christopher Collins alleges Susan O’Rourke was living in St. Lucie County when she filed her paperwork to run for District 2. And she lied when she filed saying she was living in Martin County, the lawsuit says. Therefore, she fails to qualify to be on the ballot, according to the lawsuit.
“There have been questions from many residents about whether or not she (O’Rourke) was a legal resident at the time of qualifying, so we filed a challenge to have a judge review the case,” Collins said in a text message.
O’Rourke told TCPalm June 26 that she has since moved from St. Lucie County to 413 Southeast Hibiscus Ave., Stuart. However, a review of county records shows that she remains out of the district for which she is seeking — her new home is in County Commission District 1.
The suit also names Supervisor of Elections Vicki Davis as a defendant. Davis was named, Collins said, because she administers the process to qualify to run for election.
Collins is seeking to have O’Rourke removed from the ballot.
She “lied under oath,” said attorney Antony Sabatini, who is representing Collins in the lawsuit.
O’Rourke declined to answer questions about the lawsuit.
“We are going to deal with this in court,” she said, adding she might countersue.
The matter is expected to go to non-jury trial, and a date has yet to be set.
O’Rourke updated her residency after she filed paperwork to run for office, Sabatini said.
“It’s really about truthfulness and perjury,” said attorney Gavin Rollins, who is also representing Collins.
Outside the district
O’Rourke is a former traffic engineer and is facing Collins and Althea Wiley Stoudemire, an author, chef and Realtor for the seat now held by Stacey Hetherington, who is not seeking reelection.
O’Rourke needs to be living in District 2 by the time of the election to serve as District 2 commissioner, Davis said.
It’s unclear whether she must be living in District 2 by the Aug. 18 primary or the Nov. 3 general election. Davis was unable to say. A spokesperson for the state Division of Elections did not respond to a request for that information.
Determined to run
Still, O’Rourke is determined to run, she said June 26, meaning she will move into District 2 by the election date.
“I am running for office because I believe I am being called to do this,” she said in a completed candidate questionnaire for TCPalm. “When I saw Chris was going to be possibly (run) unopposed for the election, I decided to run.”
Collins is a former city commissioner in Stuart. He quit as mayor and commissioner to run for the Martin County Commission seat.
Keith Burbank is TCPalm’s watchdog reporter covering Martin County. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida election lawsuit targets commission candidate’s residency
Reporting by Keith Burbank, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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By Keith Burbank, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
