A circuit judge ruled that Shannon Roden will remain on the Aug. 2 primary election ballot in the race for Jefferson County collector.
Michelle Worth, who is running for the Republican Party’s nomination in the primary, filed a petition in Jefferson County Circuit Court in late March asking that Roden be disqualified from running because she did not meet the filing requirements.
Visiting Judge Paul Hellman heard the case on June 15 and the next day dismissed it, upholding a motion Roden’s attorney filed claiming that the case is moot because by state law, the ballot for the Aug. 2 election had to be final on June 7, eight weeks before the election.
“There is no exception to the hard and fast eight-week deadline,” read Roden’s motion to dismiss the case.
“This is very, very good news,” Roden said. “It’s kind of what we had been expecting. It’s good to put this behind us.”
Hellman’s ruling did not address the central assertion in Worth’s original petition, that when Roden filed for collector on March 29, she did not provide a signed affidavit from a Missouri-licensed surety company stating that she met the requirements to be bonded for $750,000.
That affidavit was received by the County Clerk’s Office on March 30, the day after filings closed.
Worth’s petition alleged that because Roden did not meet the deadline, she should not have been allowed to run for the office.
Div. 6 Circuit Judge Troy Cardona ruled on May 23 that Roden’s name should be removed from the ballot, and the next day Roden appealed the ruling to the Eastern District Court of Appeals.
A three-judge panel ruled that Cardona made an error in denying Roden’s motion for a change of judge and ordered the case back to circuit court.
Hellman, a judge from the 20th Circuit, which includes Franklin, Gasconade and Osage counties, was then assigned to hear the case.
Worth said time ended up being the deciding factor in Hellman’s decision.
“The case was dismissed because this is a timely issue and time ran out before the case could be reheard by the new judge. Ballots had to be ordered in time for absentee voting,” she said. “The circuit judge (Cardona) ruled in my favor that Roden should be removed from the ballot because she didn’t file her affidavit of bondability on time. No judge has ruled otherwise on this issue.
“The Collector’s Office is governed by state statutes. If my opponent did not follow statutes that govern candidate filing, then it’s concerning to me that the statutes would not be followed in the Collector’s Office.”
Roden is the wife of state Rep. Shane Roden, R-Cedar Hill, and a candidate for the 22nd District state Senate seat.
County Clerk Ken Waller said when his office sent ballots to the printer, a blank space was left open to include Roden’s name.
Once the appellate court overturned Cardona’s ruling, Waller said, the printer was informed to add Roden’s name to the ballot.
Had Hellman ruled against Roden, Waller said his office most likely would have posted a notice at polling places notifying voters that even though her name was on the ballot, she would not be eligible to take office.
“Other than not having to have a notice, (Hellman’s ruling) didn’t affect our office that much,” Waller said. “We still had to proceed with having ballots printed up. We should have them in our office by Friday (June 24).”
Roden said even while the case was making its way through the courts, she was campaigning.
“I’ve been out talking with people, getting my name out there,” she said. “People were asking me what was going on, and I told them.”