In November, the ballot for Charlottesville School Board will have one fewer candidate than anticipated.
Due to a paperwork error, Edgar “Hal” Turner, assistant dean of students and director of fraternity and sorority life at the University of Virginia, has been disqualified.
“This is the first time I have participated in this process and I thought I had completed all the necessary forms in their entirety to be eligible for the ballot,” Turner said by email Wednesday. “After the deadline, I was informed that I had missed some sections of the application.”
Rosanna Bencoach, Charlottesville’s registrar, said Turner failed to answer two of the nine questions on the certificate of candidate qualification form.
“It’s not a matter of qualifications,” said Bencoach, “it’s that the paperwork was incomplete.”
Question five asks about a candidate’s registered voting address, while question seven asks if a candidate has ever lost their right to vote.
“This was a complete and unintentional oversight on my part and I look forward to reapplying for candidacy in the next election cycle,” Turner said.
Bencoach also said that Turner switched his registered voting address from an Albemarle County address to a Charlottesville address June 9, which was both the filing deadline and the day Turner filed his candidacy paperwork.
Because of the last-minute submission, Bencoach said, there wasn’t enough time for Turner to submit a newly completed and notarized form.
“Once the deadline passes, candidates no longer have the opportunity to correct their forms, and incomplete forms should result in disqualification,” Brooks Braun, a policy analyst with the Virginia Department of Elections, told Bencoach in a June 16 email.
Due to Turner’s ineligibility, voters will now see four candidates running for four seats.
Incumbents Amy Laufer — who is the board’s chairwoman — and Jennifer McKeever are both running for second terms.
New candidates are Sherry Kraft, a semi-retired clinical psychologist whose children attended Charlottesville City Schools, and Adam Hastings, dean of business, mathematics and technologies at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Hastings also is the former director of the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center.
Current board members Colette Blount and Willa Neale both opted not to seek re-election.
The School Board is composed of seven members who are elected to four-year, at-large terms.
The election is Nov. 3.
