Pine Bluff mayor files lawsuit

— Pine Bluff Mayor Debe Hollingsworth announced Tuesday that she is filing a complaint against former Pine Bluff Mayor Carl Redus Jr. as well as members of the Jefferson County Election Committee.

Redus filed to be placed on the Democratic ballot for the May 20 primary election, but in her lawsuit, Hollingsworth states the position isn't available.

“I was elected in 2012, and took office in 2013,” Hollingsworth said Tuesday. “There’s not an election for mayor in 2014, and he filed with the Jefferson County Circuit Clerk on Oct. 5, 2012.”

Hollingsworth said she wanted to announce her lawsuit to the public before the primary election on May 20.

Redus said he filed for the mayor’s seat this year because the “city’s highest office and those for clerk and treasurer are open this year because Pine Bluff’s population has dropped below 50,000, according to the 2010 Census,” the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.

Redus’ request was approved by the Jefferson County Election Commission on March 7, despite opinions by Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter and the Arkansas secretary of state’s office, which both said the next mayoral election shouldn’t occur until 2016, the story states.

“None of us realized [Redus was filing] when I was elected,” Hollingsworth said. “We were quite surprised that all of this had transpired.”

Hollingsworth is filing her complaint as a registered voter and resident of the city of Pine Bluff.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.

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