The City of Oakwood announced Tuesday it will move forward in swearing in Rhonda Wood, the winner of a March 12 special election that has become the subject of local and state investigations.
A release from the city Tuesday afternoon said Wood will be sworn in at the next monthly city council meeting on April 8. She will fill the Post 4 seat left vacant last September by the passing of her husband, Dwight Wood. She defeated Volley Collins for the seat by an 88-vote margin.
Hall County elections officials, however, later found that 200 people who did not live in the city cast ballots in that election, while 22 people who should have been able to vote in the race did not have the item included on their ballots. An investigation by one county elections official indicated the errors were not the results of Hall County elections staff failures.
The Secretary of State's Office announced an investigation into the race last Friday.
“While the City acknowledges the conclusions of the Hall County Board of Elections and the investigation of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office may be on-going, O.C.G.A. Section 21-2-503(b) provides that the City may swear in the presumptive winner – even if a challenge is pending,” Tuesday's release said.
The city also cited state law indicating that the window for Collins to challenge the results of the race has passed. Wood was originally scheduled to be sworn in on April 2, but that ceremony was canceled after Oakwood's attorney recommended a postponement.
