Petition Review Underway For Special Election

George Wenschhof

Elections Director Stuart Harvey indicated to me in a conversation yesterday, he hoped to have the review of the petition for a special election for the members of the charter writing board complete by the end of this week. Two thousand signatures need to be verified by the Frederick County Board of Elections for a special election to be held.

He also sent me the review criteria which will be used by staff as they sort through the signatures on the petitions which can be read here.

I asked him if any of the aspiring charter board members had met with him to review how the petitions should be filled out and he said no. A total of 2,864 signatures were turned in which led me to opine the likelihood of a special election was strong.

However, after talking with Mr. Harvey, it may not be as strong a likelihood as I thought. He pointed out in last years election, Scott Guenther ran as a unaffiliated candidate for delegate in district 4-a and as a result, needed a petition to appear on the ballot.

According to Harvey, Mr. Guenther submitted his first batch of signatures to the state for verification and had many thrown out based on the above referenced review criteria. Mr. Guenther, who had not requested any help in explaining the process, then discussed what was needed and went on to acquire the needed signatures.

A signature must be the same as it appears on the state voter registration file and is one of the most common areas which result in a petition signature being disqualified.

So, although the 2,864 signatures are 43% more than what was needed, the effort may still fall short.

Stay Tuned...

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