Wauneka not qualified for District 3
in Arizona

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

ST. JOHNS — On Thursday the Superior Court for Apache County ruled that Edison Wauneka does not have enough valid signatures to be placed on the Sept. 2 primary ballot as a candidate for District 3 Supervisor.

Judge Gloria J. Kindig ruled that Wauneka did not submit the required 138 valid signatures to be placed on the ballot — falling short by 9 valid signatures.

Eleven of 20 challenged signatures that Wauneka presented testimony for were deemed to be invalid by the court because the person signing did not reside in District 3. Other challenged signatures were invalid because the signatures did not match voter records and because some were not legible.

Wauneka filed 16 petitions that contained a total of 207 signatures to run as a Democrat in the primary race for District 3 supervisor. On June 18, Flora Belle Overson filed a challenge to 138 of the signatures on Wauneka’s nomination petitions.

On June 19, the Apache County Recorder’s Office reported its finding that 52 of the challenged signatures were valid and 86 were invalid. The report also found that Wauneka had 118 valid signatures.

The trial began on July 1 and testimony and argument were heard for two days. The court found that Wauneka had 121 valid signatures and further found that eight more that had been disallowed in the recorder’s report were valid — bringing the total valid signatures recognized by the court to 129, which was not enough for Wauneka’s name to be placed on the ballot.

“Having found that candidate Wauneka presented 129 valid signatures in his nomination petition, this Court finds that Wauenka had not qualified for the September 2, 2008, primary election and his name cannot be placed on the ballot for that election,” the court stated.

Wauneka is the director of the Navajo Election Administration. The Independent was not able to reach him for comment.

Apache County District 3 serves the Arizona communities of Alpine, Concho, Eager, Greer, Nutrioso, Springerville, St. Johns , Sanders and Vernon. It also serves several Navajo chapters including Lupton, Nahata Dziil, Oak Springs and St. Michaels.

Apache County is governed by the Board of Supervisors – one from each of the three districts of the county. Districts 1 and 2 are within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation but District 3 serves the southern portion of the county. Only a small portion of the district is on Navajo land.