Two more Montezuma County residents seeking to become county commissioners turned in petitions by the 4:30 p.m. deadline on Monday.
Tim Hunter, a District 3 candidate, turned in his signatures shorty after 11 a.m. on Monday, and Bud Garner, a District 2 candidate, turned in his signatures at about 2:15 p.m. Monday.
Elections Administrator Kay Ramsey said the signatures for the two candidates would still need to be verified, and added that could take a few days.
If Hunter and Garner have enough verified signatures they will appear on the Republican ballot for the June 26 Republican primary.
Hunter would be opposed by former commissioner Dwayne Findley and Casey McClellan, who was a floor nomination at the assembly.
For Hunter to be placed on the ballot he needs at least 278 verified signatures to be certified by the county.
Hunter said he is optimistic he will have enough certified signatures because he turned in 332 and believes all of them are valid, but added he will have to wait to see what the county decides.
Hunter said one of the reasons he is confident he will have enough signatures to be placed on the ballot is because he collected more than 300 signatures himself and tried to ensure that anyone signing his petition would be counted.
He also said collecting the signatures was made easier since Findley and McClellan were already on the ballot and did not have to collect signatures, so there was no question if a person had signed a petition for one of his opponents.
I am trying to be safe, he said in explaining why he collected 56 more signatures than he needed.
As an example, District 3 candidate Pat DeGagne-Rule had 112 of her 458 signatures disallowed for various reasons.
In order for a signature to be deemed valid on a Republican petition, signatures must be from a registered voter in the Republican party in Montezuma County that has been registered for at least 29 days. They must also print and sign their name, sign the correct date, and provide their legal address and city in which they live. If any of this information is missed or incorrect, the signature will not be allowed.
Hunter said the main reason he decided to run for a commissioner seat is because he believes in the county and thinks he has a lot to offer. He also said this is the next step in his political career. Hunter has been a Mancos school board member for nine years.
I am a pretty opinionated guy, he said.
Hunter also said that when he decided to seek the District 3 seat a few months ago he was unopposed for about two months.
Garner would not divulge the number of signatures he turned in, saying it was a raw number that had yet to be verified.
Garner, if he collected the 326 verified signatures, would be opposed by Keenan Ertel and DeGagne-Rule. DeGagne-Rule is the wife of current outgoing commissioner Larrie Rule.
Garner also said he has been thinking about running for the District 2 commissioner seat for more than a year.
He said one reason he decided to run for the county commission is that it was the right time.
It seemed like a good fit at this time, he said. Its time to step up or shut up.
Unaffiliated District 3 county commissioner hopeful Larry Don Suckla has to wait until April 9 to begin his petition drive, which is by June 4, and hell need signatures from 2 percent of the total votes cast in the previous general election for that seat.
Michael Maresh can be reached at michaelm@cortezjournal.com
