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| Updated: 9/14/2012 8:25 am |
Published: 9/13/2012 11:30 pm |
LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Jesse Turner sat on the second row at the Pine Bluff mayors forum Thursday with a sign reading "Personal gain should not trump voting rights. Let the city election go forward."
His anger is directed towards Mayor Carl Redus, who filed a lawsuit that would delay the vote until 2014.
"The Mayor has suppressed information they should have provided to the community and he did not do that. Now it is election time, he is trying to stop the election," said Turner.
Redus cites an Arkansas law saying since the city's population dropped below 50,000 people during a recent census, cities are required to have a Mayors election during the midterm cycle.
Therefore Redus would automatically stay in office another two years.
At the forum at the Reynolds Center and moderated by Fox 16's Dustin Barnes, voters wanted to know why the mayor decided to file a lawsuit.
"As Mayor of this community and a representative of the citizens of this community, you must always follow the law. The state law states what should take place," said Redus.
But one of his opponents, Debe Hollingsworth, filed a request to keep the elections as planned.
"We want to tell the judge if you extend his term for two years, you are taking away my constitutional right to be able to vote as a citizen", said Hollingsworth.
