By Greg Friestad
This article is a followup to the Write-in Candidate Denied story in issue 34 of the Payson News. That article was an outline of the Town of Payson response to Barbara Buntin’s request to register as a write-in candidate for Mayor of Payson.
Town staff issued a letter which erroneously claimed that town code a 30.07 and ARS9-821-01 prohibited Barbara from registering to be a write-in candidate for Mayor. These two statutes detail which candidates from the Primary Election can advance to the General election and have their names placed on that ballot. These codes say nothing about write-in candidates. Title 16 of the Arizona Revised Statutes is where one finds the rules governing write-in candidates. Why would you have statutory requirements for write-in candidate if some government official can unilaterally ignore them and declare the write-in candidates campaign illegitimate?
After a thorough review of case law, Barbara’s attorney determined that the Town was looking at the wrong statutes to determine her eligibility to be a write-in candidate in the General election. Under ARS title 16 the following criteria must be met:
Write-In candidates, that are not placed on the general election ballot, but registered in order to have votes for them counted. To qualify as a write-in:
a. The candidate must:
i. Be a qualified elector; and,
ii. A resident for at least one (1) year prior to the election.
b. The candidate must not have:
i. Ran in the primary election and failed to be nominated;
ii. Filed a nomination petition in the primary election and failed to provide sufficient signatures;
iii. Filed a nomination petition in the primary election and withdrew due to being challenged or was otherwise determined by the court to be ineligible;
vi. Filed a nomination petition for nomination other than by primary and failed to provide sufficient signatures.
Ms. Buntin had no affiliation with the primary election, and thus cannot run in the general election as a candidate that is named on the ballot, but Ms. Buntin is absolutely qualified to run and meets the qualifications to be a registered write-in candidate and receive those “write-in” votes on the general election ballot.
Based on the information outlined above, Barbara Buntin re-submitted her request (on 9/6/22) to be registered with the Town of Payson as a write-in candidate in the General Election. As of the publishing of this article there has been no response from the Town.
Think very seriously about the following:
The contract Town attorney will probably be the person making the decision on this request. If the Town attorney denies Barbara’s civil right to be a write-in candidate, or if the decision is delayed past the start of early voting, the Town could very well be named in a costly civil rights lawsuit. Since the Town attorney is a contract attorney, the Town would most likely utilize the services of the ARIZONA MUNICIPAL RISK RETENTION POOL to fight the lawsuit. The firm that employees our Town attorney is Pierce/Coleman and associates. That company is part of the AMRRP . Is the Town Attorney setting the stage for the company that he works for to make a substantial amount of money defending the Town’s denial of Barbara Buntin’s request to be a write-in candidate??? Win or loose in court some law firm will benefit financially. Is that the reason Town staff had the original denial letter signed by the acting Town Clerk and not the Pierce/Coleman contract Town attorney??
Think seriously about that for a while.
As stated in the previous article both candidates for Mayor of Payson that will have their names on the General Election ballot are incumbent members of the Payson Town Council. Do you think it possible that they would pressure Town staff to deny the registration of a write-in candidate and thus eliminate competition from a very competent third person.There are many people who will not vote for Morrissey or Higgins but would gladly vote for a person like Barbara Buntin who has been a member of the Payson Planning and Zoning commission for three years, and has attended most Town Council meetings for years without controversy.
Even if this write-in registration request is denied again, we urge all who don’t like the mayoral candidate choices on the ballot to write-in Barbara Buntin for Mayor of Payson when you vote. The votes will not count if registration is denied again, but a clear message will be sent to the present administration.
Stay tuned for more information on this story as it unfolds.
UPDATE!: The Town was given until Tuesday the 13th of September to accept Barbara’s write-in registration request for candidacy. Unfortunately she received another letter stating the same interpretation of the wrong A.R.S. statute from the town.
Arizona Laws 16-312. Filing of nomination papers for write-in candidates
Current as of: 2021 | Check for updates | Other
Any person desiring to become a write-in candidate for an elective office in any election shall be at the time of filing a qualified elector of the county or district the person proposes to represent and shall have been a resident of that county or district for one hundred twenty days before the date of the election, except that for a city or town office, section 9-232 applies with respect to residency for the candidate. The person shall file a nomination paper, signed by the candidate, giving the person’s actual residence address or, if the person does not have an actual residence address, a description of place of residence and post office address, or, if the person’s actual residence address is protected pursuant to section 16-153, a post office box or private mailbox address in the candidate’s district, precinct or municipality, as applicable for the district, precinct or municipal office that the person proposes to represent, and the person’s age, length of residence in the state and date of birth.
C. The write-in filing procedure shall be in the same manner as prescribed in section 16-311. Any person who does not file a timely nomination paper shall not be counted in the tally of ballots. The filing officer shall not accept the nomination paper of a candidate for state or local office unless the candidate provides or has provided the financial disclosure statement as prescribed for candidates for that office.
E. The secretary of state shall notify the various boards of supervisors as to write-in candidates filing with the secretary of state’s office. The county school superintendent shall notify the appropriate board of supervisors as to write-in candidates filing with the superintendent’s office. The board of supervisors shall notify the appropriate election board inspector of all candidates who have properly filed such statements. In the case of a city or town election, th
e city or town clerk shall notify the appropriate election board inspector of candidates properly filed. No other write-ins shall be counted. The election board inspector shall post the notice of official write-in candidates in a conspicuous location within the polling place.
Why have a line for a write-in on every ballot printed? A line each for the number of candidates for each office?
