City Council hopeful Mark Paxton didn’t collect enough valid
voter signatures and therefore won’t have his name on the November
ballot as a candidate for the District 5 seat.
City Council hopeful Mark Paxton didn’t collect enough valid voter signatures and therefore won’t have his name on the November ballot as a candidate for the District 5 seat.
Paxton, who was ready to challenge incumbent Tony Bruscia and two others, collected signatures and handed in his nomination documents on the final day of eligibility – last Friday. But the Elections Office determined he had only 15 valid signatures, while 20 are needed to run.
Council candidates are required to gather 20 signatures from registered voters in the district. Paxton brought back 24, but many were from the same residents who signed Bruscia’s nomination papers, making those endorsements invalid, according to election supervisor Kim Hawk.
Paxton still is eligible for the council seat, but only as a write-in candidate, according to Deputy City Clerk Geri Johnson. Being a write-in candidate has similar requirements, but later deadlines, she said.
That means Bruscia may only face the two challengers he expected as opposition before Paxton joined the fray. They are nurse Monica Johnson and cop Martin Deffee.
Paxton, 47, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Bruscia, a neighbor of the Paxton family, also couldn’t be reached.
Head elections official John Hodges said it’s disappointing to see Paxton, a long-time Hollister resident, lose his eligibility for the ballot.
“Yeah, doggone, what a bummer,” Hodges said. “He got the same people Bruscia did, and you can’t do that. It’s first come, first serve.”
Candidates for public office in San Benito County sometimes don’t gather enough signatures, but they almost always have time to fix the problem, Hawk said. If Paxton had filed earlier, he would have been allowed to gather more signatures.
Johnson’s office has notified Paxton on a phone message. But he has not indicated whether he will run as a write-in candidate.
