An Athens resident filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Athens County Democratic Party chairwoman, alleging that her re-election violated party bylaws.
Cindy Johnson is seeking a court order to declare the election invalid and to order another election, in which all committee members would be required to vote for the party chair. Members could vote absentee but could not abstain from voting altogether.
Susan Gwinn was re-elected as party chairwoman April 3, beating out former city council member Carol Patterson by 11 votes. Before the vote, central committee member Keller Blackburn mentioned that voting while there were still vacant committee seats violated party bylaws, but finally said pressing the issue would do more harm than good.
After the March elections, some members left their seats or retired, leaving vacant positions that would need to be filled to comply with party bylaws.
The suit states that Gwinn has adversely effected (sic) the sanctity of the Democratic party and its principles and cannot be a member of the Athens County Democratic Party for violating party bylaws.
Gwinn declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Johnson claimed her experience as an Athens County Democrat has been adversely effected (sic) because of Gwinn's alleged violation.
As a result of (Gwinn's) actions
(Johnson) is deprived of the opportunity to participate in a credible democratic political organization Johnson wrote in the suit.
Johnson also filed a motion to waive or defer the filing fee, stating that requiring payment would deprive (Johnson) of the right to file this complaint.
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