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Several prospective candidates in the November election were erroneously told they qualified for the ballot, San Bernardino County officials announced Thursday.
Eight office seekers were affected by the mistake, according to a county statement.
“The Registrar of Voters (ROV) is working closely with several city and town clerks to explain to local candidates an error that led five office-seekers to believe they had qualified for the Nov. 5 ballot when they had not,” according to the county.
After the candidate filing period ended Aug. 9, “the ROV discovered a clerical error that affected the evaluation of nomination petition signatures,” officials said. “To ensure each candidate met their nomination petition requirement, ROV staff reevaluated all petitions for the city candidates. As a result of this reevaluation, eight candidates were determined to be impacted.”
ROV spokeswoman Melissa Eickman said the five candidates who were mistakenly told they qualified for the ballot are Rachel Arzu running for Highland City Council District 3, Joshua Augustus running for Rialto Mayor, Ted Bohanon running for Apple Valley Town Council District 1, Jose Nikyar running for Ontario City Council District 4 and Ashley Stickler running for Rancho Cucamonga City Council District 1.
These candidates have the option of filing a legal challenge to dispute disqualification from the election, Eickman said in an email to the Riverside Independent. Legal challenges must resolve by Aug. 29, the deadline for changes to the ballot.
Signature-counting errors also affected Gregory Hogan running for Highland City Council District 1, Bill Jensen for Hesperia City Council District 5 and April Ramirez for Twentynine Palms City Council District 2, but each had the opportunity to submit additional signatures prior to the extended candidate filing deadline of Aug. 14, Eickman said.
“When an eligible incumbent does not file their candidacy paperwork, the deadlines are extended an additional five days in accordance with the law,” she added.
The errors were discovered when election workers performed follow-up audits of the signature tabulation, officials said. Such additional audits will be added to the county’s procedures for future candidate filing and reviewing petition signatures.
Updated Aug. 17, 2024, 9:20 a.m.
