Deputy County Clerk Angela Curro said Monday was one of the busier kickoffs to a nomination period for local candidates in her time with San Benito County.
“It was a little busy for our first day,” she said. “It was probably one of the busier first nomination days since I’ve been here.”
There were two or three scheduled appointments with the office, she said, but total of 10 candidates ended up declaring on Monday, the kickoff to the nomination period lasting until Aug. 15 for the November general election.
Monday started the second round of sorts for the 2018 election year after the June 5 primary. For the general election, a variety of races from the two local cities and many school districts will be on the Nov. 6 ballot with runoff races leftover from June.
Part of the reason for so many qualified candidates is that people running for school districts or special districts don’t have to go through all the paperwork and fees needed in city, county or state races.
“All they have to do is declare,” Curro said.
As for the cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista, the city clerks in those jurisdictions receives paperwork so the county clerk can validate signatures before the city clerks then give final validation.
“We don’t actually directly do anything,” Curro said.
A variety of local offices will be up for election on the Nov. 6 ballot such as the mayor’s seat in Hollister, Districts 2 and 3 on the Hollister City Council, three seats on the San Juan Bautista City Council and seats on various school district boards. Those seats will be joined by several runoff races left from the June primary such as Districts 3 and 4 on the San Benito County Board, and an open judge seat.
Residents also have until Aug. 10 to file resolutions to put measures on the ballot, with arguments due Aug. 14 and rebuttals due Aug. 21.
“That’s the kind of thing people don’t understand is it happens really fast,” said Assistant County Clerk Angela Curro.
The elections office Friday released a notice of election that will list all the seats up for grabs, requirements for running and key dates for the November election season.
To see who’s declared candidacy so far, go here.
Local election-related videos below:
https://vimeo.com/265278974
https://vimeo.com/265381900
