Fate of 10 candidates up to courts
Utah Net site gets part of blame for their removal from ballot
Ten candidates for state offices have been removed from the ballot after they failed to meet the state's Sept. 15 financial-disclosure deadline — although at least some are claiming they attempted to file on the Internet and could not because of technical difficulties. And in one case, a state school board candidate removed from the ballot said she actually received confirmation of a successful filing.
The candidates have been told they will have to appeal to the courts for reinstatement on the ballot. They could also be placed back on the ballot by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. — although that appears unlikely.
"We encourage candidates who did not meet the ballot qualification requirements to seek legal recourse if they desire to remain as candidates," said Mike Mower, the governor's spokesman.
Contributing to the confusion is an online database, maintained by the state's election division, which seems to indicate that many candidates filed minutes, hours or even days late. In reality, the time stamps are indicative of when the information was placed on the Web site, which would be after the deadline for any candidate who filed their report by mail or in person because the information has to be entered manually by the elections office staff.
"The whole freaking Web site is messed up," Demma said. "It's something we have to deal with because it's not up to what we can do technologically."
While correcting the problems may bode well for future candidates, that offers little solace for those who were ousted in the past week.
Mower said State Board of Education incumbents Dixie Allen of Vernal, Debra Roberts of Beaver and Edward Dalton of Erda plan to petition the courts. The fourth ousted board candidate, Tod Tesar of Vernal, has filed as a write-in candidate.
Both Roberts and Allen said they attempted to file online, and Roberts even received a confirmation of her filing. Allen, meanwhile, claimed to have sent e-mails asking for help to the elections office but never heard anything until she was contacted Monday about her removal.
Michael Cragun, deputy director of the lieutenant governor's office, said the staff has looked through all possible e-mail accounts and found no communications from Allen. He said the office has no ability to assist the candidates, although officials "made every possible effort" to contact candidates who had not filed as the deadline approached.
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