McKinney Needs Signatures To Get On Ballot

Former Georgia congresswoman will have to collect signatures to get on the ballot and challenge U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, the incumbent in the 4th congressional district.

The Green Party of Georgia nominated McKinney June 2 during the party's convention in Tucker. Parts of the 4th District include Brookhaven and Chamblee.

McKinney was a six-term member of Congress as a Democrat. by backing the PLO, questioning whether President Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks and being stopped by a police officer when she tried to enter the capitol.

During the height of her popularity, much of Brookhaven's Windsor Parkway was a McKinney stronghold. Her recognizable light-blue campaign yard signs heavily dotted Windsor from Ashford-Dunwoody Road into the Atlanta city limits.

The Greens have to go the petition route because the party has never garnered enough statewide votes to automatically earn a ballot spot, said Tim Fleming, a spokesman for the Georgia Secretary of State's office.

McKinney will need to collect 18,859 signatures - 5 percent of the 377,189 active and eligible voters in the 2010 open election - by Aug. 7.

Fleming said if she gets enough signatures, she could be listed on the ballot as an independent or a Green Party candidate.

An unscientific Patch poll in April asked if McKinney could be elected to Congress. Seventy percent of respondents said no, 22 percent said yes and the rest said they didn't know.

McKinney could not be reached for comment. Bruce Dixon, press secretary for the Georgia Green Party, did not return a phone message.

: Democrats Hank Johnson, Courtney L. Dillard Sr. and Lincoln Nunnally and Republicans J. Chris Vaughn and Greg Pallen.

At the Green Party convention, the nominating committee instructed three delegates to support Roseanne Barr's candidacy for president. The fourth Georgia delegate will back Jill Stein. The national Green convention will be held in Baltimore.

The Georgia Green Party was organized in 1996.