A few months from the final deadline for candidates, Pima County’s potential governing board candidate roster is robust, a Pima County Superintendent’s Office official says.
“It’s a little higher than 2022,” said Matt Stamp, elections director of the Pima County School Superintendent’s Office. “In 2022 we saw an increase in people running for governing board. The climate has seen an increase in people interested in running.”
There are 48 open governing board seats in Pima County this cycle. So far the superintendent’s office has received 43 statements of interest.
Based on the statements of interest received, some districts are already forecast to have enough candidates for an election to move forward, Stamp said.
“Catalina Foothills, Marana, Sahuarita, Tanque Verde, Tucson Unified School District and Vail all have quite a few statements of interest submitted,” Stamp said.
As of Friday, the following Pima County districts have received no statements of interest: Ajo Unified, Altar Valley, Baboquivari Unified and Continental Elementary.
The next step, the filing period, runs June 8 through July 8.
“That is when all of these people who submitted their statement of interest will need to submit their signatures to our office,” Stamp said. The minimum number of required signatures varies based on the number of registered voters in the district.
For example, candidates vying for seats in large districts like TUSD and Pima County JTED must collect at least 400 signatures, Stamp said.
Signing your name to help secure a candidate’s spot does not mean you are obligated to vote for that person, Stamp explained. “All they’re saying is that (that candidate) can be on the ballot.”
“As soon as they file those to our office, we count them and if they surpass the minimum, then they send them over to the county elections department and they are ready to go on the ballot for November,” Stamp said.
In 2022, a Vail Unified School District’s collection of signatures was called into question. “That was an interesting situation where we went to court and a candidate got that taken off the ballot,” Stamp recalled. “That can happen in July and August, right after the filing.”
If there are three open seats and only three candidates, the superintendent can go to the Pima County Board of Supervisors to have the election canceled and have those three candidates appointed as if they were elected, Stamp said.
He said that in addition to governing board elections, some districts will be voting on bonds and overrides. Districts wanting to put a bond issue or override on November’s ballot must inform the Superintendent’s office by June 23.
