Another Merced County candidate claims he was left off of the ballot unjustly
A write-in candidate for the 12th State Senate district has threatened to sue Merced County saying elections office bureaucracy kept him off the ballot, but the registrar says he failed to meet clear deadlines.
Former Gustine mayor Dennis Brazil said he's been planning to run for the state office since 2014, but argued he won't be on the ballot because he was given bad information on multiple occasions by staff of the Merced County Registrar of Voters Office.
He went on to say the Secretary of State's Office gave him the wrong deadline to file a lawsuit before the election that may have allowed him on the ballot.
"From the county elections office to the Secretary of State's office, all of them gave us poor information all the way along to continue to keep missing deadlines," the 60-year-old said.
The district will have four candidates on the ballot: Assemblymember Anna Caballero, farmer Robert Poythress and farmer Johnny Tacherra. Brazil will be an official write-in candidate but will not appear on the ballot, according to Barbara Levey, the Merced County registrar.
Incumbent Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, has termed out of office.
Brazil said he was given incorrect paperwork when he first visited the office in January, a claim the office denies. The paperwork he says he wanted is not available until February, according to Levey.
He also claims the office did not inform him that some of the forms were due in February rather than on March 9, when the rest of the forms were due. The due date was recently changed by new legislation.
Levey said all of the candidates are provided the same information and handbooks, noting the other candidates met their requirements. "I questioned him, 'Didn't you look at this document?' " she said. "He admitted he hadn't read any of the information."
Brazil said he returned to the office shortly before the end of business on March 9, the final day, and didn't have time to correct the paperwork and gather the correct signatures. He also says he's already invested $50,000 into his campaign.
Brazil's attorney, Al Whitehurst, said the "common sense, nobody gets hurt" solution would be for the office to accept the paperwork Brazil was given.
Levey said the rules wouldn't allow her to accept that paperwork. "The documents are quite similar, but they are separate and distinct documents," she said.
The disagreement is the second public spat between the elections office and a candidate who says they've been unjustly left off of the ballot. Former candidate for the superintendent Merced County Office of Education Gabby Sanchez butted heads with the elections office in April arguing she meets the requirements to run. The registrar disagreed.
Regardless, Brazil said he has a realistic chance in the election. He would need to finish in the top two to continue on to the November election.
"We feel like we have a great shot at this," he said. "I have great name recognition not only in the area where I live but in the Valley."
This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Another Merced County candidate claims he was left off of the ballot unjustly."