Candidate petition deadline passed at noon

Noon today was the cutoff for candidates in most county elections to turn in their voter petitions — and thus avoid payment of “qualifying fees” for the upcoming Primary Elections on August 24, 2010.

Vicky Oakes, Assistant St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections, told local reporters at Historic City News that in the contests for County Commissioner in District 2, only Ben Adams and Randy Brunson were certified by the petition method. In District 4, only Jim Bryant submitted petitions to be certified.

In the District 1 School Board race, petitions were certified for Beverly Ann Slough and her opponent, Michael Joseph Serra did turn in additional petitions in time for today’s cutoff — they had not yet been certified when we checked around 1:00 p.m.

Oakes says that it is not as simple as some may think — each petition card must be individually checked by an elections office employee to certify that the petition was properly completed and that the voter was, in fact, qualified to execute the petition.

In the District 3 School Board race, Bill Mignon had petitions certified and, although he is currently running unopposed, another candidate could appear before the end of the qualifying period — although that candidate would be required to pay a qualifying fee.

In the County Commission District 2 race, announced Republican candidates Ron Sanchez and Karen Stern did not submit voter petitions so, in order to appear on the ballot, they will each be required to pay $3,844.26 during qualifying week; Noon, June 14th through Noon, June 18th. Another announced candidate for a commission seat in District 2 is Merrill Paul Roland; who is running with no party affiliation. Roland did not collect petition signatures so he will also have to pay a qualifying fee.

In the County Commission District 4 race, announced Republican candidates Joseph Alan Mayhew and John (Jay) H. Morris did not submit voter petitions so, in order to appear on the ballot, they will each also be required to pay $3,844.26 during qualifying week.

Morris has reported more contributions to his campaign than any other contender; however Mayhew had only disclosed $100 in cash contributions — as of his last financial report. Roland has reported no campaign contributions at all; limiting his options if he wants to appear on the ballot.

Potential candidates will have until noon on June 18th to announce and qualify by the payment method or decide to run as “write in” candidates if they cannot come up with the qualifying fees established for their race.

Photo credits: © 2010 Historic City News photographer Kerry McGuire