Green out of DA race

Decatur attorney Barry Green was all set to take on incumbent Greg Lowery for the 271st District Attorney as an independent.

He needed 500 signatures by Thursday to get his name on the ballot. 

Those who signed his petition for candidacy must be registered voters in the district, which includes Wise and Jack counties, and they must not have voted in the March 2016 primary election.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Green said he had more than 300 signatures but was not going to make the deadline.

“It’s not that people aren’t available to sign; it’s simply that I need more time to find them,” Green wrote in an email late last week.

He said the logistics of collecting the signatures were more difficult than anticipated.

“First, I have to find people eligible to sign which is no easy task,” Green said. “They have to be registered to vote but did not vote in the Republican primary. From there, I have to contact them in order to have them sign the form but there is much more to it than that. They must sign the form in front of me or some other third person — someone must personally witness the signing.”

Additionally, whoever witnesses the signing must read a long sentence regarding qualifications to the person signing and later swear, before a notary, that the process was followed and further swear they have personally verified the signer’s voter registration status, Green explained.

“That’s a tall order and a heck of a lot more complicated than simply asking someone to go to the voting booth,” he said. “There is no question that the legislature, which is obviously composed of Democrats and Republicans, didn’t want to make it easy for Independent candidates.”

To read the complete article, see the June 24 edition of the Herald-Gazette.