Half of the Eighth District council candidates challenged over petitions

In a new development in the race to fill the seat of Eighth District Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, NewsWorks has learned that half of the candidates were challenged Tuesday over petition signatures.

NewsWorks’ Germantown editor Patrick Cobbs is covering the ballot challenges at the City Commissioners’ hearing rooms at 520 N. Delaware Ave.

Cobbs said the five candidates facing petition signature challenges are:

Andrew Lofton

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William Durham

Robin Tasco

Fay Dawson

Jordan Dillard

NewsWorks reported that the City Commissioners office on Wednesday said there were no challenges in the Eighth. One of the candidates facing a petition challenge, Andrew Lofton, said the challenges were filed after Tuesday’s 5:00 p.m. deadline electronically. This development could explain why no challenges appeared on record the morning after. Lofton said he plans to challenge the challenges because he believes they were filed too late.

Some of the challenges are believed to have come from Cindy Bass’ campaign. Cobbs said Brandon Vaughn confirmed to him that he had filed some of the challenges. Vaughn is a campaign staffer for Bass.

Candidates who face challenges will have their nominating petition signatures checked line-by-line to see if the name is a registered Democrat in the Eighth District.

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