It’s official: La Plata County’s two independent candidates for county commissioner are on the November ballot.
As part of Colorado law, independent candidates must collect the number of signatures that reflects at least 2% of the votes cast in the previous election in the district in which they are running.
For candidate Charly Minkler, who is seeking to represent District 3, that means he must have 591 valid signatures. Jack Turner, running for District 2, must obtain 601 valid signatures.
The two candidates submitted more than 1,000 signatures each to La Plata County Clerk & Recorder Tiffany Parker last week. All signatures must be verified as registered La Plata County voters. All information, such as legal name and address, must be correct.
Parker said 1,026 of Minkler’s signatures were accepted, with 70 rejected. Turner had 981 signatures accepted, and 73 rejected.
Now qualified for the ballot, Minkler will run against Matt Salka, a Democrat, and Turner will run against Marsha Porter-Norton, also a Democrat.
