Despite a furious last minute effort, Emile Kaufman fell short in his bid to secure a spot on the Lowell election ballot this November.
During an InsideLowell podcast last Tuesday, Kaufman was asked how signature gathering was going, given he didn’t pull paperwork until July 6th, which gave the first time candidate less than 2-weeks to gather the 150 signatures necessary to get his name on the ballot. The District 1 (Pawtucketville) hopeful responded that he had only gathered one signature to that point, but expressed confidence he could get it done in time.
Despite spending a good part of this past weekend and today soliciting registered voters, Kaufman was only able to get 133 of the names verified by Elections Director Greg Pappas. Pappas tells InsideLowell Kaufman turned in more than 150 names, but many of them were not registered to vote in the city or were registered elsewhere.
As a result, incumbent Pawtucketville Councilor Dan Rourke will be the only name on the ballot in District 1, joining District 3 (Belvidere) Councilor John Leahy as the only council candidates running unopposed.
As we reported yesterday, five of the six School Committee candidates will also run without opposition, with only District 1 (Pawtuckettville and Upper Highlands) committee member Stacey Thompson facing a challenge from Fred Bahou.
All other candidates who pulled paperwork have had the required number of signatures verified, with the exception of Rithy Uong and Gerry Nutter, who announced in recent days they had decided not to mount a campaign.
