2 Mat-Su candidates removed from ballot over missed disclosure deadline

PALMER — Mat-Su election officials removed two candidates from the borough’s November ballot this week after they failed to file a required state financial disclosure form by an August deadline.

Hillary Palmer, a Wasilla resident and candidate for Matanuska-Susitna Borough mayor registered as nonpartisan, and Steve Ault, a Wasilla resident and candidate for Borough Assembly District 3 registered as a Republican, did not file a public office financial disclosure form with the Alaska Public Offices Commission before the Aug. 30 deadline, state officials said Tuesday.

Both candidates were erroneously certified by the borough clerk late last month as having met all state and local election requirements. Their names were published on the borough’s official list of candidates Aug. 31. They were removed from the list as of Tuesday morning.

Ault was part of a three-way race for the District 3 seat currently held by Assembly member Dee McKee, who is running for reelection. Palmer was running for borough mayor against incumbent Edna DeVries. As of Tuesday, two candidates remain on the ballot for the District 3 race; DeVries is now running unopposed.

Candidates who do not file the required form by the deadline cannot legally be placed on the ballot, according to state law.

Both first-time candidates, Palmer and Ault, said they initially did not file the form because they did not know it was required, but they did so Sept. 5 after state officials informed them it was missing. They said the about 100-page candidate filing packet and checklist provided by the borough was incomplete or confusing, making the process difficult to navigate.

Borough officials said the form is clearly listed on a document in the candidate filing packet but is not included in hard copy because it must be filed online.

Borough Clerk Lonnie McKechnie and her staff mistakenly certified Palmer and Ault for the ballot because they either missed or misunderstood the personal financial disclosure requirement, the investigation found.

However, because McKechnie lacks the legal authority to waive state election law, even if the error was caused by her office, she cannot place the candidates on the ballot regardless, the review found. That decision would have to be made by a court.

“The clerk’s mistake does not allow the clerk to place these names on the ballot,” the review states. “It would be up to a court of competent jurisdiction to find that the candidates’ noncompliance with the deadline is excused.”

McKechnie notified candidates of their removal by email late Monday. The decision was based on legal advice from attorneys at Munson, Cacciola & Severin, an Anchorage-based law firm hired by the borough to review the issue.

The missing disclosure form requires candidates to list their business holdings, debts, income and other personal financial information. While many municipalities in Alaska exempt local candidates from filing the form, Mat-Su, Anchorage and the Fairbanks North Star Borough are among those that still require it, according to APOC officials.

State law also requires candidates to either register their campaign with the Public Offices Commission or fill out a municipal exemption statement certifying that they do not intend to raise or spend more than $5,000.

In Ault’s case, staff certified his candidacy after erroneously determining he did not need the form because he had filled out a separate, unrelated exemption form for candidates who do not plan to raise or spend more than $5,000, the review found. In Palmer’s case, the form was simply overlooked when she filed her candidacy paperwork just minutes before the 5 p.m. Aug. 30 deadline.

It was not immediately clear whether candidates have been removed from the ballot under similar circumstances in the past. McKechnie said this is the first time such a step has been taken since she was hired as borough clerk in 2008.

Ault said he does not plan to challenge the decision in court because of the tight timeframe between now and Election Day in early November. Palmer said she is still considering her next step but hopes the borough will seek a second legal opinion on whether she and Ault should be removed.

“I’m just kind of sinking into this reality this morning and considering,” Palmer said in an interview early Tuesday morning. “I don’t think this is happening through any malice. I don’t think this is an intentional thing that’s happened. There’s a misunderstanding, and now the borough’s hands are tied unless they seek a second opinion or it goes to court.”

Both Palmer and Ault said the situation could have been avoided with a simpler filing process that is more friendly to first-time candidates, while Palmer said she missed the form in part because of apparent errors on the APOC website.

“As a novice candidate, traversing APOC and borough requirements can lead to this type of error,” Ault said in an email. “When using the APOC website, there isn’t a step-by-step workflow to ensure all needed documents are filed or a visible checklist to identify gaps that I saw; otherwise, I would have taken the time to close it.”

Ault, who said he has accepted some donations and spent money on campaign materials including a website, said he doesn’t know what his next steps should be now that he is no longer on the ballot.

“To be honest, I am somewhat embarrassed with my donor community, and I am disappointed that I won’t have the opportunity to fairly compete and represent my community,” he said.

Borough elections are scheduled for Nov. 5.

Republished with permission from the Mat-Su Sentinel, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan online news source. Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.