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Skip St. Pierre withdraws from port race
posted 08/25/01
Skip St. Pierre will not be running for Friday Harbor Port Commission. He withdrew from the race yesterday (Aug. 24). His name will appear on the primary ballot which has already been printed and is due to be mailed out Aug. 29. He cited two reasons for his decision to withdraw -- his ongoing cancer treatment and local politics. "Local politics beat me up, " he said. "The big boys didn't want me to run."
Bid for re-election lost in the mail
posted 07/31/01
San Juan County Hospital District No. 1 board member Polly White won't be running for re-election because of delayed mail. Her declaration of candidacy form was postmarked July 21 but did not arrive at the county Elections Office until Wednesday, August 1. The deadline for filings was the close of business Friday, July 27 (RCW 29.15.040).
Elections Supervisor Sandy Gillespie said nothing can be done, postmarks don't count. White went to the elections office during the mail-in filing period to drop off her declaration of candidacy. Gillespie notarized the form and told White it had to be mailed in. In person filing can only be done the last week of the filing period.
White mailed her form at the Friday Harbor Post Office. It went to Seattle to be postmarked and sorted. Where it went from there is still a mystery according to Friday Harbor Postmaster Carmen Dixon. There was another postmark on the envelope but is was unreadable except for an St.
The normal procedure for outgoing mail is: all mail deposited at the post office or in the outgoing mailboxes by 4:15 p.m. is sent to Everett except on Saturdays. On Saturday, mail is sent to Seattle. The mail is postmarked, bar coded and sorted. It is returned the next morning to Friday Harbor.
Two thousand pounds of mail are flown in at 6 a.m. The remaining mail is trucked over on the 8 a.m. ferry. Another flight around 12:30 p.m. brings in mostly express mail.
Local mail deposited in the local outgoing mail boxes after 4:15 p.m. does not leave the islands. It is postmarked and sorted in Friday Harbor and delivered the next morning.
To prevent another incident like this, Gillespie advises candidates to call the elections office before the deadline to check if their applications were received.
Sharon Kivisto
and
Matt Pranger
can be reached:
phone:
360.378.3748
fax:
360.378.9748
by e-mail:
news@sanjuanislander.com
by mail:
San Juan Islander
PO Box 1118
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA