4 disqualified from State School Board ballot
3 incumbents, one challenger failed to submit finance data
The disqualification of so many incumbents on a 15-member board could be unprecedented.
Incumbents Ed Dalton of Tooele, Debra Roberts of Beaver and Dixie Allen of Vernal and her challenger, Tod Tesar of Vernal, have been disqualified, said Michael Cragun, deputy director of the Lieutenant Governor's Office.
That leaves no one running in Allen's District 14.
Dalton was surprised by the news; Tesar saw it coming. But Roberts and Allen say their efforts to file reports online somehow didn't go through.
"I have a printing that shows I put in everything Thursday," Roberts said. While she thinks there's a technological problem at work, "you start feeling, is there someone out there who doesn't want me on this ballot or what?"
The candidates have no recourse with the state elections office, Cragun said. But they can petition the courts to get their names on the ballots.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. can also appoint replacement candidates, Cragun said. Under state law, a nominating committee recommends State School Board candidates to the governor, who selects those who will go on the ballot.
"We're evaluating our options," she said.
State Board of Education Chairman Kim Burningham, who also is up for re-election, said he was frustrated by the disqualifications. "I would say all three of these people ... are wonderful people and wonderful assets to the board. They all planned fully to run again, and I'm very disappointed and saddened that there apparently is a difficulty."
Candidates were to report how much money they'd received and spent on their campaigns by 5 p.m. last Friday. Cragun said postcards containing deadline notices were mailed to candidates Sept. 1, four days earlier than the law mandates.
But Dalton said he never received one. Neither did Burningham.
Neither did Allen, though she says Burningham reminded everyone of the filing deadline at last week's board meeting. She said she tried to file online Thursday, but never could get the confirmation to print out. She said she tried to call the Lieutenant Governor's Office for help, but didn't hear back until Monday, when the office notified her they did not receive her report.
"I thought I was safe," Allen said.
She is weighing her options. Roberts says she'll petition the courts. Tesar says he wants to mount a write-in campaign.
"I have no one to blame but myself," Tesar said of missing the filing deadline, which dawned on him Monday morning. "It was purely an oversight."
Dalton, however, was surprised about his disqualification, which he learned of in a press call. He said he would seek out and then weigh options.
"Surely it wasn't an intentional thing. It has been filed, but it was not there on Friday," Dalton said. "I'd surely like to continue to run, and want to continue to serve."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com
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