Santa Monica’s options for the November election have (mostly) taken shape with a combined 21 candidates running for seats on City Council, Rent Control Board, School Board and College Board.
Candidates who want to appear on the ballot had through August 14 to file their paperwork with local officials and while the race for Council has become relatively crowded, the rest of the local elections are quite sparse, if not outright uncontested.
A total of 21 individuals had initially pulled papers in the race for the City Council election, but as of 5:30pm on Aug. 14 only 11 individuals filed their applications. Of the applicants, eight had already qualified as official candidates and others were awaiting verification of the required signatures. One candidate filed an application, but was rejected due to a lack of verifiable signatures and the rest withdrew or did not file.
City Council races are always competitive in Santa Monica and while the number of individuals varies from year to year, this year’s total is close to the average.
Four candidates are already running as a slate (Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya). Incumbents Phil Brock and Oscar de la Torre are expected to announce two individuals to join them as a competing slate.
The field of candidates thins dramatically outside the council race. Three incumbents and one challenger filed for the three seats available on the School Board. All four individuals have qualified for the race guaranteeing an election.
The College Board also has four individuals filing for three seats; however, one potential candidate is still awaiting verification of their application.
The Rent Control Board is uncontested as of this week with only two people applying for two open seats. If either College Board or Rent Control Board remain uncontested following the write-in period, those elections would be canceled and the applicants appointed into the open seats.
Individuals who miss the August window can still run for office if they qualify as a write-in candidate. Write-in candidates must fulfill the same requirements as regular candidates but do not have their names included in the ballot. The window for write-in applications is from Sept. 9 to Oct. 22.
Ballots will be mailed to voters starting on Oct. 7. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 21 and Election Day is Nov. 5. However, vote-by-mail ballots can be returned starting in October and there may be in-person voting centers open prior to Election Day.
City Council (4-year terms) 4 seats
Whitney Bain
Phillip L. Brock (Incumbent) – Qualified
Oscar de la Torre (Incumbent) – Qualified
Dan Hall – Qualified
Wade Kelley
Ericka Lesley
John Putnam – Qualified
Ellis Raskin – Qualified
Dr. Vivian A. Roknian – Qualified
Barry A. Snell – Qualified
Natalya Zernitskaya – Qualified
Rent Control (4-year terms) 2 seats
Kay Ambriz (Incumbent) – Qualified
Phillis Dudick
College Board (4-year terms) 3 seats
Anastasia Foster – Qualified
Zoe Muntaner
Margaret Quinones-Perez (Incumbent) – Qualified
Rob Greenstein Rader (Incumbent) – Qualified
School Board (4-year terms) 3 seats
Christine Falaguerra – Qualified
Jon Kean (Incumbent) – Qualified
Maria Leon-Vazquez (Incumbent) – Qualified
Jennifer Smith (Incumbent) – Qualified
matt@smdp.com
