Voters will encounter several errors on the upcoming election ballot relating to measures pertaining to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD).
Ballots will include the race for the Board of Education and two bonds seeking approval. However, votes will not be counted for the board election after sole challenger Christine Falaguerra withdrew her candidacy in September, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
All three remaining candidates campaigning for a seat on the Board of Education are incumbent: President Jennifer Smith, Vice President Jon Kean and Board Member Maria Leon-Vasquez.
Since there are three open seats and three candidates running for election, the race is uncontested, meaning it would usually be removed from the ballot. However, ballots were finalized the week before Falaguerra’s withdrawal.
“Local election code has no procedure to remove a candidate at this late stage unless they were to die prior to the election,” the Santa Monica Daily Press wrote.
The race, including Falaguerra’s name and candidate statement, will still be included on the ballots when votes are cast, according to the City Clerk’s office.
QS and MM Measures
Also appearing on the ballot will be measures QS and MM, which are general obligation bonds benefitting Santa Monica and Malibu public schools.
Measure QS would allocate $495 million to public schools in Santa Monica, School Facilities Improvement District (SFID) 1, for facility work including repairing leaky school roofs and outdated wiring, as well as other various classroom upgrades, according to a fact sheet released by SMMUSD.
Measure MM, which focuses on Malibu public schools (SFID 2), similarly seeks to authorize $395 million to remove hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead and improve classrooms and libraries, according to SMMUSD.
“For many of these projects, architects, designers, and/or builders have already been contracted with the school District and the projects are ready to begin, pending only funding approval,” according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
While each measure is intended to be presented to voters in its respective SFID, a ballot error noticed by voters in early October presented both measures across the entire school district.
The measures were “inadvertently presented as district-wide contests and are both listed on the ballots being presented to all voters within the entire School District,” according to a press release from the office of L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC) Dean C. Logan.
“Although we cannot modify the voting materials at this stage, we will ensure that only votes cast by eligible voters within the defined SFID boundaries are reported and certified,” Logan said.
For measure QS, only votes from eligible voters within the city of Santa Monica will be measured. For measure MM, only votes cast from voters within Malibu and adjacent areas will be counted.
The RR/CC is working with the SMMUSD to “ensure all corrective actions are accurate and that they uphold the integrity of the election process,” said the press release.
Both measures will require 55% of the vote to pass. The 2018 election saw similar bonds approved, measures SMS and M, with 72% of the vote in Santa Monica and 70% in Malibu, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
In response to the ballot error, “notifications to voters are being prepared and distributed to explain the situation and the corrective actions taken,” said the office of the RR/CC. If voters have any questions or concerns, they are encouraged to call the RR/CC at (800) 815-2666.
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Contact Kelsie Patterson via email: kelsie.patterson@pepperdine.edu
