Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder-Elections

August 14, 2008

Extended Candidate Filing Closes
51 Local Candidates File to Run for Office

Redwood City, CA – At last count, when the extended candidate filing period closed at 5 p.m. on August 13, the San Mateo County Elections Office helped 51 local candidates for schools and special districts complete their paperwork to run for office on the November 4, 2008 Presidential General Election ballot. “We are always busy at the deadline; it’s always heartening to see voters step forward to serve their community by running for office,” stated Warren Slocum, San Mateo County’s Chief Elections Officer.

One special district and seven school districts had extended candidate filing periods because an eligible incumbent did not choose to run. The Elections Code states that when one or more eligible incumbent(s) does not file nomination papers by the regular candidate filing deadline (that date for this election was Aug. 8), the deadline is extended by five calendar days to allow non-incumbent candidates to declare their candidacy.
Since the opening of the candidate filing period on July 14, candidates have streamed in and out of the Elections Office to file their nomination papers for nine (9) special districts and ten (10) school districts. Some districts will experience highly competitive races, while others may not appear on the ballot as there were equal or less candidates that filed papers to fill the open seats.

Case in point:  Eight eligible special districts and eight eligible school districts will not appear on the ballot because the number of candidates equaled or was less than the number of available open seats; those candidates run unopposed and win automatically.

The end of the regular candidate filing period also marked the deadline for submission of all local ballot measures. Joining the candidates on the ballot will be nine local measures (two measures placed on the ballot by the County of San Mateo, four measures placed on the ballot by school districts, and three measures placed on the ballot by cities). 

Arguments for city measures are filed with the respective City Clerks. Arguments for a County, school, or special district measure are filed with the County Elections Office. Primary arguments in favor of or against qualified ballot measures must be filed with the Filing Officer, Lupe Sanchez, at the Elections Office at 40 Tower Road in San Mateo by 5:00 p.m. on August 15. Rebuttals to those primary arguments must be filed by 5:00 p.m. on August 25.

The roster of local candidates (sans the candidates for city offices), measures, and districts with extensions and/or contested elections can be found at www.shapethefuture.org . This roster is placed on the web site at the opening of the filing period and updated nightly. The final roster of those candidates that filed to run for office at the San Mateo County Elections Office is attached for your review.

You must check with the City Clerks of the following cities to find out who the candidates are for city office.  Those cities with City Council contests include: Atherton, Colma, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, and Pacifica. The City of Daly City also has contests for City Clerk and City Treasurer.

In addition to the local offices, the November 4 Presidential General Election ballot will contain federal contests for President and the 12th and 14th Congressional Districts, State Assembly contests in the 12th, 19th and 21st Districts, and a State Senate contest for the 11th District. Candidates in these contests were automatically placed on the ballot as they were the winners in their primary elections in each of the respective districts.

Roster of Local Candidates

Roster of Local Measures

Printer friendly version.