Long County Board of Education candidate Julie Dawson submitted papers last week challenging the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia regarding Long County’s new district map. According to Dawson, the new map has an error that places her legal residence in District 3. She said it’s in District 5.  
“The map has an obvious error on it. My home is in District 5, not in District 3,” Dawson said. “I have an Allenhurst address, but it looks like they have placed my residence using a Ludowici address, which would have put me in District 3.”
She said that her legal address is on Tibet Highway Southeast in Allenhurst, but she thinks the court marked her address on the recently approved map as being on Tibet Highway Southeast in Ludowici.  
Long County Board of Elections Chairwoman Vanessa Cunningham confirmed that Dawson has challenged her home’s placement in District 3, and, according to paperwork filed by Dawson, her residence is an Allenhurst address.
“Our papers that Mrs. Dawson submitted qualifying as a candidate do show her having an Allenhurst address, and that is the address that was submitted to the court by us on her behalf,” Cunningham said.
The chairwoman said she couldn’t confirm whether the court made a mistake when Dawson’s residence was placed in District 3 on the new map.
“All I can say at this point is that we are looking into the matter based upon the information that Mrs. Dawson has given us, and we will be providing it to the court,” Cunningham said.
If the map turns out to be correct and Dawson’s residence is in District 3, she would need to qualify for the upcoming election in that district and face incumbent BoE Vice Chairwoman Florence Baggs. In the July 31 general primary, neither candidate faced opposition as Dawson and Baggs were the only candidates to qualify in District 5 and District 3, respectively.