Candidate for Wilkes Co. Sheriff disqualified for not meeting local residency requirement

One candidate for Wilkes County Sheriff has been disqualified for the officebecause she does not meet the Secretary of State's residency requirements.

Schuyler Dillard, a Barrow County deputy sheriff who has worked in Wilkes, Walton, and Clarke counties during her 10-year career in detention and law enforcement, was informed last week by Wilkes Superintendent of Elections Jim Burton that the records of the Secretary of State show that Dillard registered to vote in Clarke County on July 20, 2006, and therefore could not meet the requirement that candidates be a resident of the county for two years prior to the election.

"The problem is that the Clarke County registration is less than two years ago," Burton wrote to Dillard in an e-mail he copied to The News-Reporter. "This means you are NOT eligible to qualify for officein Wilkes County."

The records also show that Dillard did not move her voting address to Wilkes County until January 2008.

Dillard had announced her candidacy for Wilkes County Sheriff at the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO) Winter Conference here in February. She has actively campaigned at events in Wilkes County, and has a website, www.schuylerdillard.com, that introduces her candidacy and asks for donations.

Burton also informed Dillard that any soliciting for campaign donations may be "a problem" since she has not filed a letter of intent with his officeto campaign.

Burton sent the e-mail to the address listed on Dillard's campaign website, but she had not checked that e-mail and was unaware of Burton's ruling until The News- Reporter called to ask about it.

She said that her attorney was looking into the residency requirements. "Washington is my hometown, and I was born and raised there," she said. "The rule is that you be a resident for two years, or be domiciled, so that's why I qualify, because once it's your legal residency, that's fine, and that's what Wilkes County is for me."

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