What if hopefuls can’t make ballot?

In normal years, collecting 400 signatures is hardly a roadblock to running for school board.

Not for serious candidates, at least. But this is not a normal year.

And that could leave holes in some of the most important down-ballot races Maricopa County voters will decide this year.

Signature requirements vary depending on the number of registered voters in the district – from one in tiny Mobile Elementary School District to a maximum of 400 in large districts such as Mesa Public Schools and Chandler Unified School District.

But unlike lawmakers and candidates for state or municipal offices, state law does not allow school board candidates to collect signatures online.

There are no open libraries or public events at which to collect signatures. Fewer organizations are helping candidates collect signatures this year, and few candidates have the donations to fund much outreach.

That means many candidates are on their own, relying on friends and neighbors in their districts to sign and return petitions. But even that isn’t as easy as it normally would be, particularly if candidates insist on doing it without physical contact. Registered voters must schedule a pickup for their form – a much bigger ask than signing a clipboard and moving on.

So, with about month to go before signatures are due on July 6, a growing list of incumbents and newcomers are questioning whether they’ll have enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

“I’m stressed to the point that I haven’t been sleeping,” said Cartwright Elementary incumbent Marissa Hernandez, who collected 28 signatures in early March, before the COVID-19 shutdown. She needs 198 to qualify for the ballot.

Hernandez said many families were leery about signing things then and worries about the message it would send to go door-to-door now, particularly in a low-income community with multigenerational households that fear the novel coronavirus.

“Does that make us a hypocrite to say, ‘We want to do everything we can to keep you safe, but here, sign my petition?’”

Allison Ewers, a Tempe Elementary candidate, has made a ton of phone calls and promoted unmanned tables on Next Door to gather signatures. She actively shares ideas to gather signatures with her competitors.

Still, Ewers says she

is averaging a 3% to 5% return rate on those efforts. She had initially hoped to gather at least 500 signatures as a pad for the 380 she needs, should some end up invalid.

Now, she said she’ll be lucky to get the 380 and intends to check each one for validity before turning them in.

Cipriano Miranda, who is running for the Roosevelt school board, stopped going door-to-door because of how few people answered and instead got permission to ask for signatures in the parking lots of busy Target, Quik Trip and McDonald’s locations.

Miranda wears a mask and carries a can of Lysol to disinfect pens before handing them to potential signers – a method that has worked for him. He has collected nearly twice the 272 signatures he needs to qualify.

But Miranda worries that signature challenges, which have booted a fair share of candidates in legislative and statewide races this year, will trickle down the ballot.

And that could wreak havoc on school board races, where 160 seats are up for grabs on Nov. 3. More than 200 candidates have filed statements of interest so far, which they need to begin collecting signatures.

But some of those candidates have already dropped out. And while districts like Mesa are highly contested, others, like Wickenburg, have no one officially running. In Nadaburg, only one candidate – incumbent Matt Varitek – has filed, though there are three seats up for election. A fourth seat that expires in 2022 is already vacant.

Now is not an easy time to be a school board member. Schools are facing monumental changes to reopen safely. It’s possible schools will need to offer inperson and remote learning at the same time, to different students. This will cost more at a time when schools are expecting major budget cuts, the effects of which could last for years.

That’s why we need a deep slate of candidates who can pilot districts through challenging times.

If not enough candidates file for the seats available, write-in candidates can step in without signature requirements. But it’s unclear whether candidates are eligible if they filed statements of intent but failed to turn in signatures. That would likely have to be resolved in court.

If each seat has only one candidate, a district’s election will be canceled, and if no one files to fill seats, the county superintendent would appoint people to fill those terms.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that — that every candidate who wants to be in these races can collect the signatures he or she needs to make the ballot.

Because voters deserve robust choices. In fact, the future of education in Arizona may depend on it.