Ron Guth, attorney for the town of Pearl River, is sticking by his claim that Clay Harper is not qualified to run for mayor.

In an effort to have Harper ousted from the mayor’s race, Guth has set out to prove his voter registration is null and void.

However, Registrar of Voters Dwayne Wall, has said, and continues to say, yes it is.

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On July 22, Guth, representing Mayor James Lavigne, who is running against Harper in the Oct. 2 election, and the town, sent a letter to Wall challenging that Harper is not a qualified elector in the town.

Guth believes that Harper is not qualified to vote in the town of Pearl River and therefore is not qualified to run in the mayor’s race. He states when Harper changed the address on his voter registration from his former home in Hickory to where he says he now lives in Pearl River that his homestead exemption still remained on the house outside of town.

After Guth sent that letter, Wall responded by stating that according to his research Harper’s voter registration is valid, and he found no reason to revoke it.

In gathering information to make his decision, Hall sought help from Assessor Patricia Schwarz Core. Core reported that Harper was granted his last homestead exemption on Jan. 1, 2009 for the home outside of city limits, but that as of Jan. 1, 2010, Harper does not hold any homestead exemption.

But, Guth responded with another letter to Wall, stating that Wall’s findings do not address the issue.

“The issue is whether or not Mr. Harper had a homestead exemption on July 2, 2009…If the registration on July 2, 2009 is incorrect the registration is invalid and Mr. Harper must re-register to vote.”

The point of contention is the one-year residency requirement to run for mayor.

Wall said his office is charged with determining if a person is qualified to vote as of today, and whether or not a person is a valid candidate based on the one-year residency falls out of his jurisdiction.

Wall said, his legal counsel, Bill Bryan with the Attorney General’s Office, has advised him that the registrar of voter’s office is not the proper venue to challenge candidacy and the time frame to do that in Harper’s case has passed.