With the July 7 deadline fast approaching, several City Council candidates have successfully gathered the required 500 petition signatures to qualify for the ballot, while others are still working to meet the threshold.
As of June 27, a number of hopefuls have exceeded the signature requirement. Six candidates have each verified over 500 signatures, securing their spots for the November 4 election.
However, many candidates are still in need of signatures.
District 1
Ahren Griego (640 verified signatures) and Daniel Leiva (615) both easily reached the required 500 signatures to qualify.
Joshua Neal is close with 459 verified signatures, needing just 41 more.
Stephanie Telles has 269 verified signatures.
District 3
Incumbent councilor Klarissa Pena is nearing qualification with 491 verified signatures, requiring only 9 more by the deadline.
Christopher R. Sedillo has 397 verified signatures, needing 103.
Natalia Saldana (34 verified, 466 needed) and Teresa Garcia (109 verified, 391 needed) have challenges ahead.
District 5
Athnea Allen has qualified with 500 verified signatures and will challenge incumbent councilor Dan Lewis, who has verified 545 signatures.
District 7
Incumbent councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn has qualified with 611 verified signatures. She is the only candidate running in District 7.
District 9
Renee Grout, the current councilor in District 9, has qualified with 539 verified signatures.
Melani Buchanan Farmer has 426 verified signatures, with 74 remaining to collect.
Byron Powdrell (234 verified, 266 needed) and Colton Newman (262 verified, 238 needed) have considerable ground to cover. Anami Dass has 27 verified signatures.
The petition period, which began on June 2, concludes on July 7 at 5 p.m., which is also the last day for candidates to submit their Declaration of Candidacy form. Candidates must meet the 500-signature requirement to be officially placed on the ballot for the upcoming City Council election. Early voting is set to begin on October 18.
