A pair of Democrats who waged a write-in campaign for the Legislature in this month's elections far surpassed the number of votes needed for their names to appear on the November ballot and will become the first write-in candidates in Arizona history to qualify for Clean Elections funding.
Eric Meyer, who hopes to represent District 11 in the state House, received 2,785 votes, easily more than the 301 needed to qualify for the general election ballot. In eastern Arizona's District 5, rancher Bill Jeffers blew past the 386-vote minimum, garnering 2,371 write-ins.
“It was not only me but a number of volunteers that helped me exceed the number of votes I needed by nine (times the minimum). So that was great,” said Meyer.
Meyer, a former emergency room physician and a current member of the Scottsdale Unified School District governing board, hopes to replace Mark DeSimone, who resigned in July after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife.
Meyer said he was both surprised and pleased by the outcome. “I started my campaign eight weeks ago, I had no idea I would be this successful and I’m very excited about the outcome,” Meyer said.
Waiting for the Clean Elections money has made things more difficult, Meyer said, but he is optimistic.
“I should be getting my check today (Sept. 11),” he said. “Early ballots start being mailed out on the second of October so it’s basically four weeks until people start voting, so that’s going to be a big challenge for me, to get my name out there and win this election.”
Jeffers, meanwhile, is running for his district's Senate seat. He will square off against Republican Sen. Sylvia Tenney Allen, who was appointed to replace Sen. Jake Flake after Flake's death in June.
Jeffers said his qualification for the November ballot was “pretty exciting,” and that the money was certainly welcome. He ran out of seed money this August, he said.
“I had my early seed money, $3,800, and that had to be spent. But without having officially qualified, until I got a call the day before yesterday, things have been on hold,” Jeffers said.
Prior to the Sept. 2 primary election, both Democrats had collected the requisite contributions needed to qualify for public campaign funding under the Clean Elections system, but they could not receive the money unless they formally qualified for the November ballot.
Both candidates each will receive $19,382 in campaign funding. Meyer’s Republican opponents in District 11, Adam Driggs and John Altman, are both running under Clean Elections rules and so Meyer will not qualify for matching funds.
In District 5, Allen is running as a traditional candidate, meaning that Jeffers may qualify for matching funds up to three times the original amount, or $58,146, depending on the amount raised by his Republican opponent.