Gilbert man challenges mayoral, 2 council member candidates in court. Here's what to know
A Gilbert resident challenged candidates’ signatures in court for one candidate running for mayor and two for Town Council.
To qualify for mayor or council, a candidate must submit nomination paperwork with a qualifying number of signatures. Each city has its own number, based on voter turnout in the previous elections.
State law allows challenges of the signatures in court. Monday was the deadline for challenges.
Gilbert resident Michael Webb filed three separate challenges against mayoral candidate Natalie DiBernardo and council member candidates Kenny Buckland and Noah Mundt. Webb did not respond to The Arizona Republic for comment.
Webb is retired and formerly ran a consulting business for 14 years, according to his LinkedIn page.
The Town Council is set to have a shake-up with two new members and a new mayor next year. Two seats are up for grabs on the Town Council after Vice Mayor Scott Anderson and Councilmember Kathy Tilque chose not to run for reelection for their spots.
Anderson is running for mayor while Tilque is choosing to retire from the council after one term.
Mayor Brigette Peterson suspended her reelection campaign in January following mounting criticism of her leadership through the "Gilbert Goons" scandal.
Shane Krauser is the third mayoral candidate in the Gilbert race. He has made the Goons and teen violence a cornerstone of his campaign and earlier confirmed to The Republic his teenage son was recorded with members of the gang during a July 4 confrontation.
Webb donated $200 to Krauser's mayoral campaign, according to financial reports filed with the town.
Court hearings for the signature challenges are scheduled throughout the week into next week. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge will decide within 10 days of the filing. The decision can be appealed only to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Election challenges trigger a review of the signatures by the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. Those typically take one to three days to complete, depending on the number of signatures challenged and the legibility of the writing.
The Recorder’s Office has begun its reviews of the challenges, and they are done in order of court hearings, a spokesperson for the office said.
If the court finds the challenge valid, candidates will be disqualified.
Why Gilbert candidates are being challenged
Gilbert candidates must submit at least 1,000 signatures of qualified registered voters to the Town Clerk’s Office. Mayoral candidates can’t submit more than 7,043 and council member candidates not more than 4,039.
Mayoral candidate DiBernardo, a real estate agent and former candidate for Legislative District 14, is being challenged for having at least 288 invalid signatures, which would bring her short of the required signatures.
Buckland, a former Gilbert police commander from 1995 to 2016 and a senior director of sales, is being challenged for only having “at most” 931 valid signatures.
Webb has challenged 503 signatures on Mundt’s nomination paperwork as invalid, leaving only 799 valid signatures. Mundt serves as the chair of the town's Planning Commission.
The reasons for the invalid signatures claims for all three candidates ranged from:
Unregistered voter signatures
Different address from the registration
Signatures not matching registration
Voters living in a different city
Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mayoral, 2 Gilbert council candidates signatures challenged in court
