More than a week after Election Day, a clerical issue has caused the disqualification of two candidates for Wasatch County School Board. Both Tom Stone — who had presumably secured his seat with 41% of the vote — and Randall Lund were eliminated from the race Thursday, Nov. 14.
A notice from Wasatch County Clerk Joey Granger stated that neither candidate submitted their General Report financial disclosure by the required deadline. Because of this, both Stone and Lund have “been disqualified and the county will no longer count any votes for this candidate.”
Of more than 18,000 ballots received by Election Day, 962 were left to be counted.
Stone, vying for School Board District Seat E, held a lead of 134 votes against Bradley Ehlert as of Thursday. While candidates were required to submit their financial disclosure form by Oct. 29, Stone submitted his on Oct. 31.
“As I went back and said, ‘Well, wait a minute. What’s going on here?’” Stone said. “What I’ve been learning is that every other candidate has been receiving reminders that it’s due.”
According to Stone, if a candidate is delinquent on their report, a 24-hour grace period and $100 fine would be issued to amend the error. Stone said that despite his understanding of the process, he did not receive any correspondence on the matter.
Ehlert is now presumed to take Seat E with 1,689 votes in his favor. Stone, who said the alleged oversight on communication was “gigantically a big problem,” plans on challenging the disqualification.
Wasatch County Clerk Joey Granger was unavailable for comment.
Wasatch County School Board candidate Kim Dickerson, who already held 48% of the vote by Thursday, will almost certainly take Seat F with the disqualification of Lund. Dickerson secured 1,974 votes. A total of 1,236 were counted in Lund’s favor of of Thursday.
Dickerson had no comment on the disqualification of her opponent.
“Thank you to all of those who supported me,” Dickerson said when asked about the election. “I look forward to serving over the next four years.”