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City Council candidate qualifying period ends today

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Candidates have until noon today to qualify for this year’s local elections, including the first Cape Coral Council election in years to coincide with the presidential election.

All candidates for Cape Coral City Council must be a registered voter in the city with continuous full-time residency for the entire calendar year preceding their qualification for office. Candidates qualifying in Districts 2, 3, 5, and 7 must reside in their respective districts although they are elected citywide.

The races are non-partisan.

The filing fee for council seats is $100 plus the Election Assessment fee of 1 percent of the annual salary which is $34,834 ($348.34) for a total of $448.34 which must be paid through the candidate’s campaign account.

Qualification began on Monday.

Candidates who have qualified so far, according to the City Clerk’s Office on Thursday, include:

District 2: Bryan Mark Delahunt, Todd Maurer and Dan Sheppard

District 3: Christopher Cammarota, Thomas Hayden, Joseph Kilrane and Edward Nichols

District 5: Louis Navarra and Robert Welsh

District 7: Jessica Cosden, (incumbent;) Derrick Donnell and Patty Cummings.

There also are a number of county and constiutional office seats up in this year including three County Commission seats, and four School Board seats as well as the office of Sheriff and Property Appraiser.

A primary is held if there are more than two candidates running for a seat. If there are just two candidates in a district, they go straight to the General Election in November. If there is only one candidate, he/she automatically gets elected.

At the city level, City Clerk Kimberly Bruns said she is making sure the announced candidates are on target and that those who have not announced, but would like to run for office, are made aware of qualifications.

For any candidate, Bruns advised against qualifying at the last minute, just in case.

“If you wait until 11:55 a.m. on June 12, that could be tricky because if you’re missing one of the requirements or you don’t have your bank account opened yet because you haven’t filed the form, there’s no time. I don’t encourage people to wait until the last day,” Bruns said.

The primary election is Tuesday, Aug. 18. Early voting starts Sunday, Aug. 8, through Saturday, Aug. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3, with early voting from Monday, Oct. 19 through Saturday, Oct. 31, also from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Early voting sites in Cape Coral will be at the Lee County Library 921 S.W. 39th Terrace, the Lee County Elections branch office at 1039 S.E. 9th Ave., and the Northwest Regional Library at 519 Chiquita Blvd. N

For more information contact Bruns at 574-0417.