YOUR OPINION: Supervisor of Elections’ Late Switch to Write-in is ‘Self-Serving Hogwash’

YOUR OPINION • YOUR VIEW

By Matt Nye, Chairman, Republican Liberty Caucus

I am disappointed and angry after reading about the Supervisor of Elections switching from Republican to qualify as a write-in candidate at the last possible minute Friday.

I think Supervisor Scott has done a good job during her tenure, but this was an abuse of the office, and the excuse given is self-serving hogwash.

The Supervisor’s job pays $153,928 PER YEAR. The qualifying fee was $9,235.68 – for a FOUR-YEAR term.

The Supervisor expects us to believe – after being in office since 2008 and grossing $1.5 million in salary or more – she cannot pay the qualifying fee and was relying on campaign donations to do so? Seriously?

More troubling, she knew a qualifying fee of that size prevents others from getting into countywide races like the one for her office, and she intentionally misled the public since filing on October 1, 2019, into believing she was running as a Republican.

The Supervisor has known since she filed what the requirements to qualify were. She chose not to qualify by petition, which meant paying the fee.

By changing to a write-in at the last possible minute, she shows she acted in bad faith to block potential challengers and used her access to the office’s real-time data to benefit herself – to save $9,235.68.

Elected officials should be held accountable regardless of party affiliation, and perhaps none more so than the individual that manages our elections.

Supervisor Scott’s action reinforces the worst stereotypes about corrupt Republicans gaming the system. We deserve better.

– Matt Nye, Chairman, Republican Liberty Caucus

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