A supporter for local NAACP presidential candidate Larry Young said yesterday the election committee had "hijacked the process" by leaving the former state senator's name off the ballot Tuesday.
C. Patrick Blake, a Young supporter, also called "totally erroneous" the finding that some of the people who had signed Young's nominating papers were ineligible to do so because they were not members in good standing.
"The people who signed are current officers of the Baltimore City branch," said Blake. "These are eligible people."
Blake said Young, who became a candidate for president last month, did not learn his name had been kept off the ballot until he arrived Tuesday to vote.
The national NAACP invalidated the local election, in which about 400 ballots were cast, after "serious questions" were raised about the decision to disqualify Young. A spokesman for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has said a new vote could be held within 20 days.
The incumbent local president, G. I. Johnson, who was running for re-election, said yesterday he did not learn until election day that Young had been disqualified. He said the election committee had sent Young a certified letter informing him of its decision.
"That was the decision that was rendered by that body," Johnson said. "We are all one family here. ... None of us are enemies, whether it's on Larry's side or my side," he said.
Young, who was expelled from the Senate for using his public office for private gain, referred questions to Blake yesterday.
"At this point, we have to have another election so the people have a choice," he said.
