Check your mailbox: Your vote-by-mail ballot will be arriving any day, among the glossy mailers from candidates asking you to vote. (See the Weekly’s endorsements, p. 16.)
Dozens of candidates for local office, from city council to hospital board, are asking supporters to turn out to the polls – though a few of those same candidates have skipped voting in recent elections, according to records maintained by the Monterey County Elections Department.
Elections records show Melissa Godwin, who is running for Salinas City Council District 3 against incumbent Steve McShane, registered to vote in July, after the June 3 primary. In an email, she says it was because she moved, but Elections has no record of a change of address.
Andrew Amaral, a commercial fisherman challenging three incumbents for a seat on Moss Landing Harbor District board, wasn’t registered to vote until after June 3, either. He says it’s because he was traveling, and registered after buying a home in Castroville.
As far as inconsistent voters: Pacific Grove mayoral candidate John Moore missed the 2012 presidential election and the June 2014 primary, and P.G. council candidates Brian Brooks and Ken Cuneo missed the 2013 general election.
Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Bernal, who’s running to unseat Sheriff Scott Miller, also missed the 2012 general election, when Mitt Romney lost to Barack Obama.
Bill Lee, who’s seeking re-election to the board of Marina Coast Water District in a crowded race with six candidates for three seats, skipped the June primary and the 2013 mid-term.
Retired Seaside police sergeant Ron Guth, who’s running for Seaside City Council, missed the June primary, as did Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital board candidate Norm Nelson, a retired OB-GYN. With $20,000 in support from the SVMH Physicians PAC, which Nelson helped found, he’s out-fundraised challenger Carmen Gil about 10-to-1.