Election 2010: Candidates submit signatures, candidacy filing deadlines loom

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LAKE COUNTY – Candidates for local government races turned in signatures to qualify for lower filing fees this week and are preparing for final candidacy filings due next month.


Thursday was the deadline for those candidates wanting to submit signatures in-lieu petitions to cover all or part of their filing fees, based on a Lake County Registrar of Voters Office calendar. The filing period for gathering those signatures began Jan. 4.


Races on this year's ballot are sheriff, district attorney, supervisorial seats for Districts 2 and 3, superintendent of schools, assessor-recorder, county clerk-auditor and treasurer-tax collector.


All candidates for those races are now preparing to submit declaration of candidacy and nomination papers, which Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said are due March 12.


Fridley said each candidate must have a minimum of 20 signatures on their candidacy nomination forms. Those forms are separate from the in-lieu petitions, which reduce the fees candidates have to pay.


Filing fees for the various offices are based on the office holder's salary, Fridley said.


The following is a breakdown of the salary for each office, filing fee (based on 1 percent of the office's annual salary), the number of signatures needed to completely cover the fees and the value of each signature, which varies according to the office:



On Friday, Fridley and her staff had a raw count of all the signatures turned in by the candidates on Thursday. She said her office has 10 days to verify all the signatures, but they hope to have that work completed by the middle of next week.


She said if any of the signatures are thrown out in the verification process, the candidates have the opportunity to collect replacement signatures.


The raw, unverified counts of the signatures gathered by the candidates in each race follow.


Superintendent of schools


Wally Holbrook: 1,053

Judy Luchsinger: 356


Assessor-recorder


Doug Wacker (incumbent): 54


County clerk-auditor


Pam Cochrane (incumbent): 90


District attorney


Don Anderson: 249

Jon Hopkins (incumbent): 272

Doug Rhoades: 43


Sheriff-coroner


Jack Baxter: 56

Martin McMarthy: Did not take out in-lieu petition

Rodney Mitchell (incumbent): Did not take out in-lieu petition

Francisco Rivero: 1,182


Treasurer-tax collector


Sandy Kacharos (incumbent): 77


County supervisor, District 2


Jeff Smith (incumbent): 26

Joyce Overton: 176


County supervisor, District 3


Gary Lewis: 37

Denise Rushing (incumbent): 507



Those candidates who didn't submit signatures, such as Mitchell and McCarthy in the sheriff's race, can instead pay the filing fees – which Fridley said Mitchell did on Friday – and then submit nomination papers with at least 20 signatures by the March 12 deadline.


The March 12 date is the big one, said Fridley. Once candidates have their nominating signatures, pay their filings fees and submit their declarations of candidacy by that date, “They're on the ballot.”


On March 22 candidates also will be required to file financial reports for the period from Jan. 1 through March 17, Fridley said.


Some candidates already have made financial reports for the period from July 1, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2009.


Fridley said those candidates reporting receipt of funds during that period are as follows:


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