WordPress search with quotations returning to homepage

Hey all,

I’m currently trying to debug a problem with a site. When I use our search, it works perfectly fine, unless I try to search with single or double quotation marks.

For example, if I search facebook, it works fine, but if I search “facebook” it returns me to my homepage.

The site can be viewed at: https://ccdev.gnof.org/

The code for searchform.php:

<div id="searchOverlay" style="display:none;background:rgba(250,250,250,.9);z-index:999999;position:fixed;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;">

<form method="get" id="searchform" action="<?php echo esc_url( home_url( '/' ) ); ?>">
<div id="closeSearch" style="position:absolute;top:110px;right:50%;margin-right:-460px;font-family: 'Open Sans Condensed', sans-serif;text-transform:uppercase;cursor:pointer;color:#333;"><span style="color:#f66;font-family:helvetica, sans-serif;">X</span> Close</div>
<input type="text" id="searchInput" placeholder="Search GNOF" onclick="value=''" style="width:910px;border:0 none;left:50%; margin-left:-475px;top:20px;position:absolute;box-shadow:none;font-family: 'Open Sans Condensed', sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:40px;margin-top:115px;padding:0 20px;height:100px;background:none;" autofocus="true" name="s"/>
<input type="image" src="https://civiccenter.cc/images/search.png" width="12" height="12" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" border="0" />
</form>
<p style="color:#000; width:910px; margin:185px auto;">Begin typing to search, then press enter.</p>
</div>

and the code for search.php:

<?php

/*
*/
?>

<?php get_header(); ?>

	<!-- News Feed Begins -->

	<div class="container section page"> <!-- the additional page class tell us that this div needs a margin on top too -->

		<div class="row">

			<div class="span8 news-feed">

				<div class="feed-title">
					<p><small><i>Search Results for <?php echo get_search_query(); ?></i></small></p>
					<hr>
				</div>

				<?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?><br>
<div class="feed-item">
					<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
					<p><small><i>Posted to
						<?php //the_time('F j'); ?>
						 <?php //the_category(); ?>

						<?php
						$categories = get_the_category();
						$separator = ', ';
						$output = '';
						$i = 0;
						$catArr = array();
						$exclude = array('Newsroom', 'Our Community', 'Announcement - Urgent', 'Announcement', 'Grants', 'Front Page Large Feature');
						if($categories){
							foreach($categories as $category) {
								if(!in_array($category->cat_name,$exclude)){
									array_push($catArr, $category);

								}
							}
							$len = count($catArr);

							foreach($catArr as $cat){
								$output .= '<a href="'.get_category_link($cat->term_id ).'" title="' . esc_attr( sprintf( __( "View all posts in %s" ), $cat->name ) ) . '">'.$cat->cat_name.'</a>';
								$i++;
								if($i < ($len - 1)){
								 $output .= $separator;
								}

							}

							echo($output);

						}else {
							echo 'General';
						}
						?>
												<span class="pull-right">
							 <?php //comments_number('No Comments', 'One Comment', '% Comments' );?>
 						</span></i></small></p>
					<hr>
					<?php the_excerpt();?>
					<p><i><a href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>">Continue Reading...</a></i></p>
					<hr>
				</div>
                <?php endwhile;

                 // end of the loop. ?><br>  

				<!-- Ten items per page -->

				<div class="pagination">
					<?php posts_nav_link( ' ? ', 'Older Articles', 'Newer Articles' ); ?>
				</div>

			</div>

			<!-- Selection of side-bar  banners begins -->
			<div class="offset1 span3">

				<?php include('sidebar-block-our-work.php'); ?>

				<?php include('sidebar-block-receive.php'); ?>

			</div>
			<!-- Selection of side-bar banners ends -->

		</div>

	</div>

	<!-- News Feed Ends -->	

	<!-- Banner Block Begins -->

	<?php include('sidebar-banner-our-community.php'); ?>

	<!-- Banner Block Ends -->

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Any help would be greatly appreciated!