Clerk rejects 2nd effort to put Ivory on the ballot

Salt Lake County Republicans were hoping the second time would be the charm.

It wasn't.

County party chairwoman Tiani Coleman delivered "Certification #2 of Ellis Ivory as Republican Candidate for County Mayor" late Wednesday to Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen in a second attempt to get the write-in candidate's name on the ballot.

"We need to get this process taken care of as quickly as possible," Coleman said. "We need the voters to be clear on what they're doing."

But as she did last week with Coleman's first try, Swensen — on the advice of chief deputy district attorney Karl Hendrickson — rejected her second certification attempt.

Coleman supplied the paperwork Swensen asked for when she turned down the first certification attempt, but Hendrickson said it still wasn't good enough because the Republican Central Committee as a whole has still not officially certified Ivory as its candidate.

It is scheduled to meet Tuesday to consider the matter.

In an Oct. 5 meeting, the committee voted to support Ivory, but since incumbent Nancy Workman was still on the ballot then, it could not officially certify him.

After Coleman's first attempt to certify Ivory, Hendrickson advised Swensen that "it would be best if the county Republican Party submitted an official letter, with its seal, from the secretary of the county Republican Party Central Committee certifying Ellis Ivory as the replacement candidate . . . and certifying that the governing rules and bylaws of the county central committee have been complied with in this certification process."

The Republicans did just that in their latest attempt, and Coleman further wrote that "we have taken additional, appropriate steps in this matter since (Workman's) withdrawal."

"What are those steps?" state Democratic Party chairman Donald Dunn wondered Thursday. "I'll tell you what's happening, there's a movement or dissention within the Central Committee as to whether or not they should (certify Ivory), and this is the easy way out — don't have a meeting with a vote that you could lose."

Coleman declined to state say what the additional steps were, saying it was internal party business. However, she points to a telephone poll of committee members conducted this week, with the members "overwhelmingly" indicating that they wanted to certify Ivory.

Central Committee member Mike Ridgeway and others are opposing Ivory's certification, saying a doctor's note accompanying Workman's withdrawal that stated the mayor "is suffering extraordinary stress" does not meet the statutory requirement that a party can only replace a candidate who is "physically or mentally disabled."

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