The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration voted unanimously on Wednesday to disqualify incumbent Hudson Holder from running for election to Post 3 on the Bishop Town Council.
The Board, after an hour-long hearing, rejected the legal opinion of Bishop City Attorney Joe Reitman, who had concluded in February that Holder was eligible to serve on the Bishop Town Council.
The Board instead accepted the argument of Will Riley, representing Bishop resident Elizabeth Fontaine, who said Holder’s residence is outside the city limits of Bishop and that Holder has not paid city property taxes on that property and thus is ineligible to run for Town Council.
Jennifer Stone, Assistant Director of Elections and Registration for Oconee County, said on Thursday that Hudson Holder and his wife, Kelly Holder, had been removed from the list of Bishop voters following the Board vote. That leaves 263 voters--253 active and 10 inactive–on the Bishop voting roll.
Voters on Nov. 4 still will see Holder’s name on the ballot, but his votes will not be counted. The only other candidates on the ballot seeking Post 3 is Greg Montgomery.
Holder has 10 days to appeal the decision of the Board before the Oconee County Superior Court, but Holder said on Thursday he had not decided what he will do.
Holder was appointed to the Board in June of 2024 to fill a vacancy and had qualified to run for election in November on Aug. 18.
Fontaine challenged that qualification on Sept. 3, necessitating the hearing by the Board on Wednesday.
City And County
The County Board of Elections and Registration heard the challenge by Fontaine because of a June 2020 Intergovernmental Agreement between the Town of Bishop and the county.
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| Riley Before Hammond, Shook, Hanley, Davis (L-R) 9/24/2025 |
That agreement stipulates the County Board of Elections and Registration shall handle elections for the Town of Bishop, including qualification of candidates. Without that agreement, Bishop would handle its own elections.
Oconee County Director of Elections and Registration Director Sharon Gregg had qualified Holder to run for Post 3 on the Bishop Town Council after he filed his Notice of Candidacy on Aug. 18.
Holder listed his residential address as 4611 Macon Highway and stated that he had lived in Bishop for four years.
On July 23, Bishop City Attorney Reitman had sent Gregg an email and a copy of his Feb. 10, 2025, opinion saying “I previously issued a legal opinion regarding a council member in Bishop Georgia, early this year.”
“Having reviewed my opinion again, it remains unchanged,” he wrote. That opinion stated that “The council member likely is eligible for his council seat under the aforementioned 2023 researched Georgia law and jurisprudence.”
In a hand-written, two-page document and email on Sept. 3, Fontaine stated that she was “challenging Mr. Hudson' s candidacy,” claiming Holder lived outside the city limits and had not paid city property taxes on the property on which he resides.
The challenge was new territory for the Board of Elections and Registration, and it began the meeting on Wednesday reviewing and then adopting legal guidelines for deciding on the challenge and procedures to be followed at the meeting itself.
Fontaine First To Present
Riley, representing Fontaine, 5071 Macon Highway, began his presentation to the Board by saying “we are appreciative of Mr. Holder's desire to serve the Town of Bishop. Public Service is a commendable thing, and we respect anyone who is willing to step forward for the good of the community.”
“But service alone cannot override the law,” Riley continued. “The Bishop Town Charter and Georgia Law imposes clear mandatory qualifications for office: residency within the town for at least 12 months, continuing residence during the term, and being current on all municipal taxes.”
“The question is not whether Mr. Holder means well or whether he has good intentions or even whether he is a good member of the Town Council,” Riley said, “Rather, it is whether he meets the Charter's requirements, and the evidence shows that he does not.”
Georgia Law states that “simply owning property in a town does not make you a resident of that town for the purposes of voting or holding office,” Riley said. “Reside in election law context means domicile,” Riley said. “Domicile requires actual habitation.”
“Mr. Holder's fixed habitation–uncontested--is at 4611 Macon Highway," Riley said. That house “as all the evidence will show you, is outside Bishop,” he added.
“The property tax record for this parcel,” Riley said, “classifies this property as unincorporated Oconee County. Simply if this house were in Bishop, it would not be so categorized.”
“This house has always been billed as an unincorporated property,” he said. “That means Bishop has never received a penny in municipal taxes.”
“Liz Fontaine, whom I speaking on behalf of, herself wished to serve but has not resided in Bishop for the full 12 months requirement. She abided by the law and did not seek the office until qualified.”
“As the requirements are applied to Liz,” he said, “so must they apply to Mr. Holder.”
Holder Follows
“I'm not a lawyer,” Holder said as he began his comments. “I didn't hire a lawyer for this.
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| Holder Before Board 9/24/2025 |
“We have been in Oconee County for several years and consider it a privilege to live here. We love the people...Our goal in Bishop is to not be in politics. It's to help our community.”
“This is kind of unprecedented times in Bishop, Georgia,” he said. “We have people doing recall petitions, trying to kick people out of office. And then we have people challenging decent candidates who are trying to serve the community in a very low paying job.”
“It’s a couple of people who are driving these things,” Holder said. He mentioned Jacob Spaulding, who is running for Post 1 on Council and who led the recall drive in March, and Montgomery, who will now be unopposed for Post 3, who also was involved in the unsuccessful recall initiative.
Holder said the Town had “already looked at this issue (his eligibility) and made a determination. I put some weight into that.”
Holder said “My property is a farm. It has two structures on it. It's got two residential structures.” One is at 4631 Macon Highway, within the city limits, and the other is at 4611 Macon Highway.
“I use both of these structures exclusively for my own personal use,” he said. “I don't rent these structures out. I spend time in each structure every day. I've slept in both of these structures in the past week. This is where I live, work and play 24/7. I raise my kids here.”
Holder also said there is reason to believe the city boundaries shown on qpublic are wrong, and that historic documents suggest both of his residences are inside the city limits.
“Did the line move or the house move? I don't know,” Holder said.
“So I hope you all can--hopefully we can all--use logic here,” Holder said and see where this is coming from, and make a, make a decision that's logical.”
County Attorney Adds Comments
When Holder had finished and responded to question from Board Member Kirk Shook, County Attorney Daniel Haygood said “I remind everybody that we serve as the Board of Election for Bishop by contract.”
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| Shook 9/24/2025 |
Gregg then said that Holder was added to the Bishop voter roster in July of 2025.
“When this issue arose,” she said, “we took it to Daniell (Haygood). He said we’re contracted to conduct the election for the Town. Therefore, Joe Reitman handles that. He is the attorney for the Town.”
Reitman “opined that Mr. Holder did live inside the Town limit,” she said. “His opinion is what we went based on to make that change, and it was made in July.”
Reitman Asked To Speak
“Mr. Reitman,” Shook asked, “would you like to explain why you believe that even though the map showed that he's not in the city limits, why he would be eligible to be on the city council and vote in Bishop for the elections?”
“I have formed an opinion based upon the Georgia statutes and the Georgia Constitution,” Reitman said.
Under Georgia law, he said there is “a presumption of qualification unless proven to not be qualified...all citizens are entitled to exercise all their rights as citizens unless especially prohibited by law. So again, the presumption in favor of qualification.”
Reitman said the law specifies “for voter registration purposes...you all may consider evidence of where the person receives significant mail, such as personal bills and any other evidence that indicates where the person resides.”
The law says those making an assessment “shall consider, in addition to the applicant's expressed intent, any relevant circumstances for determining residence,” Reitman said.
The law cites “personal and real property owned,” Reitman said. “That is one of the reasons I did include in my opinion all parcels owned by the challenged individual.”
“I didn't promulgate these statutes,” Reitman said. “This is the Georgia General Assembly and their infinite wisdom and said these are the things we shall consider.”
Reitman said he came to the meeting “open-minded to what may be presented on either side tonight. I have not heard anything that changes where I landed on February 10th, 2025.”
Board Decision
Shook and Board Chair Jay Hanley focused in their brief discussion before the vote on the master bedroom being at 4611 Macon Highway.
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| To Be Posted For Bishop Election |
“In all honesty,” Board Member Ken Davis said, “we're looking at some legal arguments here. I don’t feel we’re really qualified to make the final decision on it.”
“I see both sides,” he said. “Whichever way this goes, I think you have a right to take it to the next level and actually get a legal opinion from the Court.”
Gregg said either party has the right to appeal to Oconee County Superior Court in 10 days.
Shook made the motion stating that “Mr. Holder is not qualified to run” for Bishop Post 3 on the Town Council.
Davis seconded, and Hanley and Board Member Doug Hammond approved.
Board Member Shami Jones was not present.
Assistant Director of Elections and Registration Stone said on Friday that the ballots for the Nov. 4 election already have been ordered and received.
Notices will be placed in every absentee ballot and around the polling place to notify of the disqualification,” she said.
The last day to register before the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 6.
NOTE: This story has been corrected to say that Holder was appointed to Council in June, not July, of 2024. He joined Council at its July meeting.
Video
The video below is of the entire meeting of the Board of Elections and Registration on Sept. 24.
The meeting took place in the Commission Chamber of the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
Riley began his comments at 5:57 in the video.
Holder began speaking at 19:19 in the video.
Reitman began his comments at 41:41.
The Board began its brief deliberation at 1:02:56.
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