Disqualified Public Service Commissioner candidate files appeal

MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – A Northern District Public Service Commissioner candidate disqualified from the ballot is appealing the ruling.

Amanda Gunasekara filed the appeal in Hinds County Thursday.

Matthew Barton, a Desoto County attorney, asked the courts to remove her.

At issue was how long the former Trump administration appointee had lived in Mississippi. You must have lived in the state five years before the general election to be a candidate.

Special Judge Lamar Pickard said evidence showed Gunasekara voted on November 6, 2018, in the District of Columbia, as a resident there.

She would then have to be an official resident of Mississippi on the very next day in order to qualify. Pickard said that didn’t happen until the spring of 2019.

No date has been set to hear the appeal.

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