Billy Joe Ratcliff

DALLAS - Dallas City Council candidate Billy Joe Ratcliff has been eliminated from the hotly contested District 7 race.

Ratcliff, a former DART Board chairman, was one of seven candidates fighting to replace term-limited City Councilmember Leo Chaney.

An examination of council boundary maps showed that Ratcliff’s home is in District 4, not District 7, said Bruce Sherbet, Dallas County elections administrator.

“It's clear it's in District 4,” he said. “As we've gone back and looked at the maps and determined that this particular small portion of this block is in District 4, not District 7."

After the 2000 census, a redistricting commission redrew council district lines and that map was approved by the Dallas City Council.

One dividing line is Everglade Road. On the south side of the street is District 4. On the north side is District 7. Ratcliff's house is on the south side.

After News 8 discovered the information inquired about the line, Sherbet examined the maps and the records. He said most of the south side of the street for several blocks is correctly registered in District 4. But somehow, several houses were mistakenly registered in District 7, which affected 19 registered voters.

"This is something that will happen time to time when you have 117,000 streets in this county," Sherbet said. "You know, we miss some every now and then."

The issue left Dallas City Hall scrambling as what to do. During the day, City Secretary Deborah Watkins poured over maps and researched.

"We’re looking at all the records available, not just one piece of paper," Watkins said.

But Thursday evening, Watkins made her ruling.

"He is ineligible," she said.

Ratcliff appeared stunned by the news.

"Word of mouth doesn’t mean anything to me," he said. "I’m waiting to get an official word that I can have in my hand. I trust what I see and what I have; and when I have it, I will determine what other measures I might have to take."

At least one of his opponents was pleased.

Lashonda Young tried raise the issue and went before the city council on Wednesday.

"That’s the right thing," she said. "They need to say they made a mistake like they did and stop looking for loopholes to keep him in. Let Mr. Ratcliff run in the district he’s supposed to."

Officials said at this point, it is too late to remove Ratcliff’s name from the general election ballot.

The Secretary of State’s office in Austin said if Ratcliff wins, the seat would be declared vacant. If it moves to a runoff, Ratcliff’s votes will be set aside, and new percentages calculated to determine what runoff, if any, is needed.

Meanwhile, the Dallas County Elections Office has re-registered Ratcliff and his neighbors to vote in District 4, which means when he does go to the polls, Ratcliff won't be able to vote for himself.

The Dallas Morning News' Scott Goldstein contributed to this report