Apologies To David Steele, Mayoral Candidate

I mentioned in today's “Thin Line” that mayoral candidate David Steele would not appear on this year's Oct. 4 ballot. It turns out he did turn in enough petition signatures to qualify. How did this error come about? When I called the City Clerk's office on Friday, July 29, the final day to submit petition signatures, an office worker said Steele had not turned in any. Every other mayoral candidate had been turning in signatures ahead of time, because then they know how many are accepted and how many more they still need to qualify. It's unusual for someone to have nothing turned in hours before the deadline and still qualify. The Clerk's office said “he's probably not going to make it,” as just a matter of discussion and I should have checked back with them yesterday before we went to press. It turned out, Steele's signatures came in close to 5 pm on Friday and the Clerk's office worked throughout the weekend to get them completed. He submitted 7,598 and at least 5,811 qualified, which is the number needed to get on the ballot.