Joe Davis files signatures in support of his independent candidacy for mayor of Bloomington. Election staff are, from left, Tammy White and Larime Wilson. (June 30, 2023)
Joe Davis files signatures in support of his independent candidacy for mayor of Bloomington. (June 30, 2023)
Joe Davis files signatures in support of his independent candidacy for mayor of Bloomington. Election staff are, from left, Tammy White and Larime Wilson. (June 30, 2023)
Joe Davis arrived at Election Central at a minute before noon to file signatures in support of his independent candidacy for mayor of Bloomington (June 30, 2023)
Even though a crucial deadline has now passed, it’s still not certain if another candidate will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot for Bloomington mayor, besides the Democratic Party’s nominee, Kerry Thomson.
At a minute before noon on Friday (June 30), Joe Davis arrived at Monroe County’s election offices at 7th and Madison streets with another batch of petition signatures.
Davis was petitioning to qualify for the Nov. 7 ballot as an independent candidate for Bloomington mayor.
He had already handed in several signatures over the last couple months—including a few batches earlier Friday morning. Up to that point, his running total of verified signatures stood at 332. That left him 20 short of the 352 he needed.
It’s not a nice round figure, because the minimum number of signatures is defined as 2 percent of the total votes cast in the city of Bloomington in the most recent statewide race for secretary of state.
On Friday at 11:59 a.m., which was a minute before the deadline, Davis handed only a dozen more signatures across the counter.
He and the election clerks alike already knew it would not be enough to put him on the ballot—even if all 12 checked out as active registered voters in the city of Bloomington.
About 10 minutes later, the clerks had disqualified half of the last 12 signatures that Davis had submitted—making his final total 338, or 14 short of the required number.
But Davis later told The B Square that he will be filing a challenge, based on what he said were around 200 signatures that have been disqualified for one reason or another.
The deadline for the Republican Party to caucus a candidate onto the Ballot is July 3, but that looks unlikely.
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