OKC council hopeful’s residency challenged
The Oklahoma County Election Board will decide whether a candidate for city council in southwest Oklahoma City’s Ward 5 meets the residency test to appear on the ballot.
Ward 5 Councilman David Greenwell filed a challenge Friday to the candidacy of Steve Hunt.
The Election Board will meet at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to hear the case, said Doug Sanderson, the Election Board secretary.
Hunt, 48, ran for mayor in 2010, losing to Mick Cornett.
He filed on Dec. 3 to run against Greenwell, who is seekinga third term.
Greenwell’s challenge, known as a contest, was filed by attorney Cara Rodriguez, who is with the downtown firm of Glenn Coffee & Associates.
Hunt failed to meet a requirement that candidates for city council be registered to vote in the ward they seek to represent six months before filing for office, Rodriguez wrote.
She said Hunt needed to be a registered voter in Ward 5 as of June 3.
Records show Hunt registered to vote at an address in Ward 8 on June 1.
He changed his registration July 24 to an address in the 8100 block of S Western Avenue, in Ward 5.
Rodriguez said that missed the cutoff to qualify as a candidate in the Feb. 12 council primary.
Greenwell, 64, is an accounting executive and member of the council’s audit committee.
If Hunt is bounced from the primary, Greenwell will face Kristina Hull, 38, a former Norman resident who filed a declaration of candidacy on Wednesday.
The winner will be elected to a new four-year term beginning in April.