With just 12 days left until the filing deadline, the clock is ticking for candidates interested in running for a seat on the York County School Board.
All five seats are open this year, and each has at least one candidate who has either filed or is in the process of filing for candidacy — except one.
The York County general registrar and director of elections said the school board District 1 seat has not received any candidate paperwork.
“We’ve been getting filings for other offices,” said Walt Latham, the general registrar. “We are getting close and would like to make sure people have time to get their paperwork together. That’s why we were starting to get a little concerned.”
The seat is currently occupied by Barbara Haywood, whose term is up in January 2020, has not filed to run for reelection, Latham said.
District 1 — the Magruder District — encompasses the lower part of Route 199, Cheatham Annex and the Naval Weapons station, some neighborhoods along Merrimac Trail and houses off Penniman Road. Its polling place is the Griffin-Yeates Learning Center on Government Road.
Without any official candidates on the ballot, the election will depend on write-ins, which can slow down the process after voters cast their ballots, Latham said.
Complications of write-ins
Electing a person through write-in votes is completely possible, although it doesn’t happen regularly, Latham said.
In general, it’s easier to have at least one person on the ballot, Latham said. It makes counting the ballots easier because write-ins are not always spelled in a uniform way or consistent.
“It’s a lot cleaner to have someone on the ballot,” Latham said.
Counting write-in votes can also take additional time for election staff, Latham said. The results of the election might not be known until the end of election week.
Certain discrepancies, such as different but similar name spellings, need to be taken to the Electoral Board, which will declare a winner.
Latham said the General Registrar’s office has seen a variety of write-in names, including “Jesus,” a voter’s own name and other cartoon characters.
Write-in candidates can run campaigns and are still required to file a campaign finance report if they are elected. Other candidate documents are not required by people who have
“They just go out and campaign and make sure people know their name,” he said.
In the event the person elected by write-in votes is not a qualified voter or candidate, special action would need to be taken, which could potentially result in a special election.
“If a write-in won and it was later found out they couldn’t take the office (say they didn’t have the legally required certification for the position), the governing body they were elected into (or some higher authority) would have to make the decision of what should be done,” Samantha A. Buckley, ELECT Policy Analyst for the Virginia Department of Elections, wrote in an email.
How to run
Even with the looming deadline, those interested in running still have time to get together the necessary paperwork to become an official candidate.
Latham estimated it could take “a few days” to get everything done, including receiving at least 125 signatures on a petition to run, a certification of candidate qualification, campaign finance reporting forms, declaration of candidacy and statement of economic interests.
Candidates who don’t plan on spending more than $1,000 on their campaign can further streamline the process requesting an exemption from filing campaign finance reports throughout their campaign.
While the exemption doesn’t release them from all finance reporting, candidates would only need to file a final report.
To make things easier for those interested in running, the York County General Registrar office has pre-printed packets with all the necessary documents for prospective candidates.
Candidates can drop by the office to go over the documents with staff to ensure they have everything complete and correct, Latham said.
