SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The city of Folsom may remove Mayor Kerri Howell from the ballot just before the 2022 election.
This comes after Folsom City Council filed a petition in Sacramento Superior Court for emergency review of the candidacy of Mayor Howell and the review of ballots cast in her favor.
Folsom officials learned Mayor Howell allegedly approved another council member to collect signatures for her 2022 campaign for reelection as mayor.
According to an official Sacramento Superior Court filing, the city was unaware of any issues until Oct. 3, when the Sacramento Bee published an article quoting Howell’s claim that a third party helped collect signatures on her nomination paper.
“Elections Code sections 10222 and 10226 state that nomination papers must be signed by the circulator under penalty of perjury that he or she saw the signatures been written and knows that the signatures are those of the persons who signed,” according to the court filing.
City of Folsom officials contacted the Sacramento County Registrar of Voter’s Office for guidance on the matter. Sacramento County advised Folsom officials to seek a court order “to rule that either Ms. Howell should stay on the ballot or that votes cast for her should be nullified.”
Folsom City Council is concerned Howell may not be qualified to run in the 2022 city council election as they seek a judicial determination on her candidacy.
“Maintaining the status quo without a court determination on this issue until after the election will severely undermine the public’s trust in their government and the integrity of the elections process, and is a dereliction of the city’s duties to uphold the integrity of its elections,” according to the complaint by Mona G. Ebrahami, attorney for the city of Folsom.
If Howell is disqualified from the election, she will face opponent Anna Rohrbough for the District 5 seat.
This case is scheduled for review by Sacramento County Superior Court Friday at 2 p.m.
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