GLENDALE—Glendale’s City Clerk announced today that five candidates had qualified for the ballot in the upcoming June 3 Special Municipal Election. Seven individuals had expressed interest in running but only five submitted papers to qualify. The City Clerk’s office confirmed that all five candidates who returned their papers had the requisite 100 signatures from registered Glendale voters to qualify each candidate for the ballot. The order of candidates to appear on the ballot will be determined by a randomized alphabets drawing that is conducted by the California Secretary of State on March 13.
These are the candidates who have qualified (List is alphabetical by last name. Actual order will be determined on March 13):
• Rick Barnes, Business Owner / Realtor
• Paula Devine, Retired Teacher
• Vartan Gharpetian, Business Owner
• Chahe Keuroghelian, Small Business Manager
• Mike Mohill, Retired Businessman
On Wednesday, March 5, the Armenian National Committee of America Glendale Chapter hosted a roundtable discussion with Armenian media representatives to outline the organization’s plan regarding the June municipal elections.
ANCA Glendale chairman Berdj Karapetian shared important statistics about Armenian-American voter participation in previous elections, highlighting the important role the Armenian community plays in elections.
ANCA Glendale Executive Director Talar Malakian briefed the audience on the Hye Votes activities, saying the ANCA-WR initiated voter engagement initiative will kick into high gear in coming weeks and will reach out to Armenian-American voters with specific instructions, given the nature of the June elections.
Also making a presentation at the roundtable was Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian, who explained that since the special elections in Glendale will be held on the same day as the California Primary vote, the LA County Registrar of Voters will be handling election logistics. As a result, Kassakhian said that ballots for the June Glendale City Council elections will not be available in Armenian, as the County does not have a provision to translate ballots.
David Gevorkyan, another ANCA Glendale member discussed outlined plans by the organization to meet with each candidate and through a coordinated plan secure their positions on issues of concern to the Armenian-American constituency.
After this process, Gevorkyan said, the ANCA Glendale will announcement its endorsement.
The roundtable conference was convened by Artin Manoukian, a long-time activist and ANCA Glendale board member.
The June 3 Special Municipal Election was triggered by the election of then-Councilmember Rafi Manoukian to the office of City Treasurer in April 2013. The resulting vacancy was filled by retiring Councilmember Frank Quintero who was appointed by the City Council until such time that a special consolidated election could be held to fill the vacancy. The City Council voted to hold a Special Municipal Election consolidated with the State Primary which will be conducted by the County of Los Angeles.
“Although we will not be conducting this election, we will be working closely with the County of Los Angeles’s Elections Division to provide as much information as possible to our city’s residents,” said Ardy Kassakhian, City Clerk. “It will be a unique election in that most people are not accustomed to voting for city council in June, so we need everyone’s help in getting the word out to participate.”
The City of Glendale plans on updating its popular GlendaleVotes.org website with information about the election and the candidates vying for the open seat. The winner of the June election will have to participate in the April 2015 regularly scheduled biennial municipal election.