City Commission candidate James Radford points out a discrepancy on the city’s website that almost cost him his candidacy.

Amongst the vast sea of 6-point font that is the city of Decatur’s website is the Elections & Voting page with two conflicting statements.

The first is this…

Qualifying is held no earlier than 8:30 a.m. on the second Monday in September and shall end no later than 4:30 p.m. on the following Friday in odd-number years. A notice of candidacy and affidavit can be obtained, completed and returned to the Decatur City Clerk during this period.

Grammar and spelling?  Check!  Semi-confusing date and time frame?  Check!

Accurate?…umm….well, scroll a bit further down the page and…

The opening date for qualifying will start Monday, August 31, 2009 beginning at 9:00 A. M., and continuing until Friday, September 4, 2009 at 4:30 P.M.

Oh dear.  But that’s not the second Monday of September in an odd-numbered year!!

Radford found the error on the city’s site after Kyle Williams tweeted that he had filed for his candidacy this morning.  (Commence unfounded rumors of a Williams/Radford coalition)  The city has already told Radford that they are correcting the error.

So, if you’re running for the city commission or the school board get your patriotic pa-toot to the City Clerk’s office this week!  Oh and don’t forget your $144.00 (city commission) or $35.00 (school board) qualifying fee.

With those fees in mind, here’s a suggested political slogan for any CSD candidates: “Why am I running for the CSD Board of Ed? Because the city commission was too damn expensive!”

Voters love a frugal candidate.