Thomas Breen Photo
Seth Poole at a campaign forum.
Three candidates have submitted petitions to run as independent candidates in the Nov. 5 mayoral election — while a fourth appears to have missed that deadline.
That deadline was 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Any candidates wishing to petition their way onto the Nov. 5 election ballot as unaffiliated candidates had to submit petitions by then with a requisite number of registered voters to either the City/Town Clerk’s or the secretary of the state’s office to qualify. Now officials need to verify the signatures indeed correspond to actual voters in order to certify the candidates for the ballot.
Mayoral candidates needed to collect a mere 121 signatures to make the general election ballot as unaffiliated candidates. (By contrast, mayoral candidates needed 1,946 signatures of registered Democrats to make the party’s Sept. 10 primary ballot. Only Elicker did that.)
Jessica Rios of the clerk’s office confirmed that Hamilton and Pendragon submitted their filled petitions by the deadline. Hamilton had done so well in advance; her signatures have been verified and her name will appear on the ballot. Staff is in the process of reviewing Pendragon’s signatures. Seth Poole— who had previously taken out paperwork to register as a candidate and who has participated in campaign forums — did not submit petitions to the office by the 4 p.m. deadline, according to Rios.
Elicker’s campaign submitted his petitions directly to the secretary of the state’s office. No other candidates submitted petitions there, according to office spokesperson Gabe Rosenberg.
“I don’t have the 121,” Poole said Wednesday. “I lost my campaign manager last week.”
Incumbent Mayor Toni Harp, the endorsed Democratic candidate seeking a fourth two-year term, did not seek to have her name appear on the general election ballot as an unaffiliated candidate. If she wins the primary, she will run in the general election as the Democratic candidate. If she loses the primary, her name will not appear on the general election ballot.
Alder Challenges Loom
Several alder candidates have also submitted paperwork to run on independent lines on Nov. 5. Rios said the office has already reviewed the signatures and confirmed the petitions of Ward 3 candidate Maria Rodriguez in the Hill and Ward 21 candidate Anais Nunez in Prospect Hill/Newhallville. The office is in the process of reviewing petitions submitted by alder candidates Ron Hurt in Ward 3; Mayce Torres in Ward 4 in the Hill; Germano Kimbro in the Hill’s Ward 5; Eddie Gist and Maceo Streater in Ward 21; Raymond Wallace in Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 13; Dennis Serfilippi in Westville’s Ward 25; Rodney Wilkerson in Upper Westville’s Ward 27; and Brenda Atkins in Beaver Hills’ Ward 28.
Some alder candidates endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee have also petitioned for independent spots on the Nov. 5 ballot, in some cases as Working Families Party candidates. They include Ward 3’s Ron Hurt, Ward 21’s Steve Winter, Eli Sabin in Yale’s Ward 1, Ellen Cupo in Wooster Square’s Ward 8, Charles Decker in East Rock’s Ward 9, Evette Hamilton in Ward 24 in Edgewood. City Clerk Michael Smart has also petitioned to appear on the Working Families Line.
Wednesday at 4 p.m. was also the deadline for candidates to petition their way onto the Sept. 10 primary ballot. The following alder candidates submitted petitions, according to Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans (with * denoting that by mid-Wednesday afternoon she had already certified the petitions as having met the required number of signatures): Ron Hurt* and Maria Rodriguez* in Ward 3; Germano Kimbro in Ward 5; Feray Gokcek in Ward 10; Raymond Wallace* in Ward 13; Paola Acosta in Fair Haven’s Ward 14; and Anais Nunez*, Maceo Streater*, and Eddie Gist in Ward 21, setting up a four-way primary.
(Update: Here’s a link to the list of all qualifying candidates.)
Incumbent Alder Michelle Edmonds-Sepulveda ended up deciding not to seek reelection after challenger Honda Smith won the Democratic endrosement in West Hills/West Rock’s Ward 30.
And the endorsed candidate for Ward 14, Wilda Garayua, submitted a letter to the clerk’s office withdrawing her candidacy.