$10,000 to correct ballot information

Santa Rosa's 75,000 voters will be getting postcards this week alerting them that Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Jane Bender is a "councilmember," but not an officially designated environmental leader.

The cost of the mailing is estimated at $10,000.

A miscommunication between the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters and the city resulted in Bender being designated as both a "councilmember' and "environmental leader" on sample and absentee ballots mailed to voters, as well as voting day ballots.

Bender included those titles on her nomination papers, but City Clerk Sue Stoneman had informed the county office that only "councilmember" should appear.

Both titles, however, did appear, sparking protests from some of Bender's opponents.

To resolve the issue, County Clerk Janice Atkinson said her office will send postcards to registered voters to inform them that only the "councilmember" title applies.

A notice also will be posted at all city precincts on Election Day to alert voters of the correct designations of all four candidates competing to fill the remaining two years of former Mayor Bob Blanchard's term. Blanchard died June 13 of cancer.

The other candidates and their designations are: Judy Kennedy, neighborhood advocate/transcriptionist; David Rosas, Roseland School Board member; and Lawrence Wiesner, accountant/homeschooler/parent.

-- Mike McCoy