Toriana Pettaway says she deserves to be on the ballot for Madison mayor.
Toriana Pettaway arrived at the City Clerk’s office around 4 p.m. on Jan. 2 — one hour before the deadline to turn in nomination papers to run for mayor. She was confident she had the 200 valid signatures required by state law to get on the ballot. In total, she submitted 217 signatures. But 19 of those signatures were invalid, including 18 which came from residents who did not live in the city of Madison. That left her two signatures short of getting on the Feb. 19 ballot.
Pettaway, the city’s equity coordinator, says she was not treated fairly.
“It is my destiny to be the mayor. I think this was intentional,” says Pettaway, who still plans on running for mayor as a write-in candidate. “I want to — legitimately — have 200 signatures because I know how racist this damn city is and I don’t want anyone to call that into question.”
Pettaway says in late December she turned in more than 100 signatures, the number she says the clerk’s office initially told her was needed. She was subsequently informed by email that she actually needed 200 signatures before Jan. 2. The clerk’s office lists all the deadlines candidates need to meet, and nomination requirements, on its website. Pettaway believes the clerk lost a whole sheet of signatures in December but has no proof.
“It’s my fault for not scanning or copying the sheet beforehand. But I was told one thing and then another. There are so many things that are inconsistent,” Pettaway says. “The [clerk’s office] is just making stuff up as they go. This is why I’m running. These are the kind of inconsistencies that I have seen and dealt with as the Madison equity coordinator and it’s driven me mad. We need to clean up our shop.”
Pettaway thinks she should have had her signatures checked by the clerk’s office at 4 p.m. on Jan. 2.
“There was time. We had an hour at that point. Nobody called me. I could have got two signatures. I got an email at 5:25 p.m. — after the clerk’s office was closed — that I was ineligible,” Pettaway says. “I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to have my papers validated while I was there. I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to get more signatures.”
Eric Christianson, a certified municipal clerk with the city, says nomination papers are validated on a first come, first serve basis and that everyone is treated fairly. He also noted that there were several candidates who waited until the last minute to file paperwork.
“To be honest, there are always some candidates’ papers we don’t get a chance to look at until after the deadline,” says Christianson. “We validate signatures as they come in.”
Christianson agrees that if Pettaway had turned in her papers earlier the clerk’s office may have been able to alert her that she did not have enough valid signatures before the deadline. “Or if she had just stuck around,” he adds. “But it’s on the candidates to produce the correct number of signatures.”
Comedian Nick Hart, who is also running for mayor, ran into a similar issue on Jan. 2 but he will be on the ballot. Unlike Pettaway, Hart had time to collect and submit more signatures before the deadline.
Hart arrived at the clerk’s office at 3:15 p.m. but, unlike Pettaway, waited while his nomination papers were checked over by staff. At 4:30 p.m. — 30 minutes before the deadline — he was informed he needed a dozen more valid signatures to get on the ballot. He, too, had signatures tossed because they came from non-city residents. So he and his campaign manager collected more around the City County Building and filed the additional signatures with minutes to spare.
“It was quite the scene at the clerk’s office. A couple alders were there. Some other people running for something,” Hart says. “We knew there was an issue when all my neighbors’ signatures started to get thrown out.”
To his surprise, Hart learned that he doesn’t actually live in the city of Madison. Since 2016, he’s called the Lakewood Gardens housing complex off of Fordem Avenue home. It’s a small piece of the town of Madison sandwiched between the city and Maple Bluff that is slated to be annexed by the city by 2022.
“I was like, I’m pretty sure I live in Madison. And they’re like, ‘No, you live in the Town of Madison,’” Hart says. “You’d think I’d know but it was a surprise. I was also told it won’t be an issue before the primary.”
If Hart is one of the top-two finishers in the primary, state law requires that he move to the city 10 days before Election Day in order to be sworn in as mayor. What happens if Hart wins the mayor’s race on April 2 but doesn’t move? City Attorney Michael May isn’t sure.
“[Hart] would be ineligible for office,” May writes in an email. “But I don’t know if that means the second-place person is mayor or if the office is vacant.”
If he make it through the primary, Hart promises to relocate in order to be a bonafide city resident — he’ll “pitch a tent in Tenney Park” if he has to. One of his mayoral opponents, Raj Shukla, also offers support.
“If necessary, Nick can totally move in with me,” says Shukla, who recently recorded a podcast with Hart, which the comedian is doing as part of his campaign. “My kids might wake him up really early in the morning but he’s more than welcome to live with me if that’s what it’ll take.”
Joining Hart and Shukla, an environmental advocate, on the Feb. 19 primary ballot for mayor are former Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway, Ald. Maurice Cheeks and Mayor Paul Soglin. All of them — except Hart — submitted 100 more signatures than needed. Cheeks and Soglin each had a handful of signatures tossed because they came from non-city residents. Rhodes-Conway had one ineligible signature. The first 200 signatures filed by Shukla had no mistakes.
Pettaway is disappointed but vows to campaign and participate in upcoming candidate forums despite not being on the ballot. When asked how much blame she deserves for being short on signatures, Pettaway says the clerk’s office failed her.
“My entire campaign team told me they thought something like this would happen,” Pettaway says. “These people [at the clerk’s office] just go about their privileged lives and are like, ‘Whatever.’ It’s not acceptable. I should be on the ballot.”
