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State BOE candidate disqualified

BY LORI YOUNT

The Wichita Eagle

One of the two Democratic candidates for Wichita's seat on the State Board of Education has been disqualified because he also filed to run for a local public office.

Wichita business owner Charles Wiggins said he'll challenge the disqualification -- a move that could delay the printing of Sedgwick County advance voting ballots.

Wiggins said he was notified last Friday by the secretary of state that he wasn't a valid candidate for the state office because he also filed to run again for his position as Minneha Township trustee.

A spokeswoman for Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh confirmed that Wiggins was disqualified because he can't run for two public offices in the same election.

Wiggins filed an objection early this week. It will be heard Tuesday morning by top state officials.

"I'm still running," Wiggins said this week. "I have a huge amount of support."

Wiggins filed June 5 to run for the District 8 board seat, which Republican Carol Rupe will vacate after eight years.

He remains on the ballot for Minneha Township trustee, for which he filed May 5.

Democrat Walt Chappell and Republican Dennis E. Hedke also filed to run for Rupe's seat on the 10-member state board. If Wiggins remains disqualified, there will be no Democratic primary for District 8.

In the past, the state board has made national headlines when moderate and conservative members clashed over issues such as sex education and evolution. With Rupe's and two other moderates' seats up for grabs, the balance could shift.

Wiggins' written objection to the secretary of state says Thornburgh misinterpreted the state law that lays out rules for balloting in primary elections, which states: "No person's name shall be printed more than once on either the official primary election ballot for national and state offices or the official primary election ballot for county and township offices."

The exception, the law says, is candidates for precinct committeeman or committeewoman.

But Wiggins claims the statute separates ballots for state offices from ballots for county and township offices.

He said in his objection that he appears on the Aug. 5 primary ballot twice -- and only in Minneha Township -- out of "convenience" to elections officials who combine state and local offices in the same document.

Thornburgh, Attorney General Stephen Six and Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson will decide Tuesday in a special meeting whether Wiggins' arguments are valid.

The board regularly meets after the state filing deadline of June 10, but Wiggins wasn't disqualified until June 26 because that's when the Sedgwick County election office alerted the secretary of state, said Thornburgh spokeswoman Stephanie Wing.

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale said he didn't realize Wiggins was running for two offices until a candidate in another race pointed it out.

Wiggins claims in his objection that county elections officials told him running for the part-time local and state offices was permissible, but Gale said he never spoke directly with Wiggins about the issue.

"If I was in his shoes, I would've checked further into it," Gale said. "I wish the question would've gotten to me, and we could've checked into it further."

Instead, the printing of about 5,000 advance voting ballots and the distribution of voting machines is on hold until Wiggins' objection is resolved, Gale said.

"It just shortens our work time, but we have to get the (advance) ballots out on the 16th," he said. "We've had that short of turn-around time (before)."

Gale said he hopes such miscommunication could be avoided in the future with a statewide candidate filing database, similar to the one Kansas uses for voter registration.

Reach Lori Yount at 316-268-6269 or lyount@wichitaeagle.com.