Tappan Middle School: After conclusion of a public meeting on the study of wet weather flows in the city’s sanitary sewer system, Jack Eaton collects signatures for his petition to become a candidate in the Democratic primary election for Ann Arbor city council in Ward 4. (Marcia Higgins is the incumbent up for election.) Ward 4 representative Margie Teall has an off-year for election; she attended the meeting. Also in attendance: Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and city administrator Steve Powers.
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Council Primaries Set Despite Duplicate Sigs
The deadline for filing signatures to qualify for the Aug. 3 primary ballot expired at 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. A couple of hours before that deadline, John Floyd was at the Ann Arbor city clerk’s office filing three additional “insurance” signatures to make sure he ended the day with the required minimum of 100.
At the Ann Arbor city clerk's office, Uncle Sam looks on as Ward 5 candidate for the city council, John Floyd, signs his petition sheet Tuesday afternoon. Floyd had previously submitted a sufficient number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. He was submitting three additional "insurance" signatures. (Photo by the writer.)
Floyd had already qualified for the ballot with 101 signatures. But a filing the previous day by another Ward 5 candidate, Lou Glorie, had revealed a duplicate signature – and both signatures are disqualified under the city of Ann Arbor’s charter. That left Floyd with exactly 100 signatures – and he didn’t want to take any chances that two other candidates who’d taken out petitions might file with additional overlapping signatures.
Floyd’s concerns weren’t completely unfounded. Glorie’s filing on Monday had bumped Ward 5 incumbent Carsten Hohnke’s signature total from 100 down to 97 – three of Glorie’s signatures overlapped with Hohnke’s. And Hohnke had needed to submit additional signatures to qualify for the ballot – his additional 15 signatures brought his final total to 112.
Floyd’s signature count held steady through 4 p.m., making him the only Republican candidate in the Aug. 3 city council primary races. For the Democrats, Patricia Lesko and incumbent John Hieftje will contest the mayor’s race. In Wards 2 and 3, incumbents Tony Derezinski and Christopher Taylor, respectively, will be unopposed in the primary. The Ward 1 race will be contested by Sumangala Kailasapathy and incumbent Sandi Smith. The Ward 5 primary race is between Glorie and incumbent Hohnke.