City Council hopeful Mark Paxton will not run for office as a
write-in candidate in the Nov. 2 race, after failing to get his
name on the ballot.
Hollister – City Council hopeful Mark Paxton will not run for office as a write-in candidate in the Nov. 2 race, after failing to get his name on the ballot.
After thinking the idea over and talking with his family, Paxton, 47, decided it would be a “titanic undertaking” to try and run without his name on the ballot.
“All four candidates seem to be rational people, so being a write-in candidate doesn’t seem logical,” he said. “In District 5, there are a lot of new homes. The typical District 5 voter has lived here less than 10 years, so they may not have a history of the area.”
Paxton handed in his nomination paperwork on Aug. 6, the last day to file for the City Council race, and immediately left town on vacation in Costa Rica. When he arrived home, he found out some of the signatures on his petition were invalid, and that his name wouldn’t appear on the District 5 ballot.
“I felt pretty idiotic about the mistake,” Paxton, who is a former editor of the Hollister Free Lance said. “I’ve covered elections in the past, and I’ve signed dozens of those petitions myself.”
Council candidates are required to gather 20 signatures from registered voters in their district. Paxton brought back 24, but many of the residents were the same people who signed incumbent Tony Bruscia’s papers, making Paxton’s signatures invalid.
Paxton, who has lived in Hollister since he was 4, said even though he won’t be on the ballot, he hopes whoever fills the spot can lift the spirits of residents, and restore a positive relationship between the community and City Hall.
“I’m not sure who’s going to be elected, but whoever they are, I hope they focus on accountability,” he said. “The next four years are going to be rough, and we need someone who has healthy curiosity and skepticism. We don’t have a lot of resources and we’ve got to lift the city out of this fiscal crisis. I think a lot of the community feels everything in Hollister is broken, and it’s not.”
