The unexpected death of Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías Saturday has set in motion a rush to replace him on the part of candidates and board members.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors will discuss at its April 7 meeting how to appoint a supervisor to serve the rest of Elías’ term, which ends in December.
State law does not lay out a process for the board to follow but gives the board the authority to appoint a replacement, with the clerk of the board having the right to cast a deciding vote in the case of a tie.
The harder problem will be for candidates who want to get on the ballot to run for the District 5 seat that Elías occupied. Elias was planning to run for re-election in the August Democratic primary.
Now, any candidate who wants to get on the ballot must rush to collect 199 valid signatures before the close of business on Monday, April 6. The challenge is made especially hard by the fact that the mayor and governor have issued stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus epidemic.
“In any normal time, 199 in one week is tough but possible,” Pima County supervisor Ramon Valadez said. “In the current pandemic, when the governor just did a shelter-in-place order, it’s going to be difficult.”
At least one well-known candidate is trying to meet the challenge. Longtime Tucson Unified School District board member Adelita Grijalva announced Monday that, with the blessing of Elías’ widow and daughter, she will pursue his seat.
She set up signature collection efforts at the campaign office of her father, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who previously held the supervisor seat that Elías occupied.
Adelita Grijalva said she also expects to pursue an appointment to the seat.
Sunnyside board member Consuelo Hernandez, the sister of state representatives Alma and Daniel Hernandez, also filed on March 30 to run for the District 5 seat. Besides serving on the governing board for Tucson's second-largest school district, Consuelo Hernandez is also running for county recorder. She did not return the Star's request for an interview.
The two other candidates who have pulled petitions to collect signatures to run for the seat are Democrat Trista di Genova-Chang and Republican Fernando Gonzales, who has run for the seat previously.
Di Genova-Chang, who also had considered running for Pima County sheriff, said she is sticking with the supervisor race and said she thinks she has sufficient signatures. She appealed to the Legislature to change the deadline for signature gathering, but it has not acted.
Gonzales said he had gathered sufficient signatures and was planning on handing them in Tuesday, March 31.
There is no online process for signature-gathering for candidates for the Pima County board. The state’s “e-qual” online petition-signing program only works for candidates for state offices such as the Legislature, the Arizona Corporation Commission and attorney general.
Candidates who fail to reach the signature threshold, though, could file to run as write-in candidates, which does not require signatures.
As to the temporary replacement, Valadez said, “My recommendation is that we appoint somebody who isn’t seeking the office. From experience, I can tell you that the first race is always the toughest one. You’ve got to dedicate a tremendous amount of time toward that campaign if you’re going to be successful.”
Pima County elections director Brad Nelson said he is seeking legal advice from the Pima County Attorney’s Office about whether Elías’ name can be removed from the ballot.
