100-Year-Old Woman Removed from California Governor Recall List

Associated Press ^ | 08/14/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Mathilda Spak had no illusions about winning the California recall election. But now the 100-year-old woman won't even get to take part in the campaign to unseat Gov. Gray Davis.

Spak, the oldest person in the race for the Oct. 7 election, was among 112 people whose applications were dismissed because they were filled out improperly. A total of 135 candidates remain.

Spak, whose candidacy was sponsored by the 99 Cents Only Stores after they relaxed their initial requirement that their candidate be 99 years old, apparently did not turn in the required 65 nominating signatures, the secretary of state's office said.

Reached at her Long Beach home Wednesday evening, Spak said she had not been notified.

"We got all the names necessary and we paid the fee and we filed the papers," she said.

Spak volunteers at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, and she wanted to use the campaign to push for expanding hours at children's clinics across the state.

She was diplomatic about not getting the chance to run for governor, saying that "whatever way it'll turn out, that's fate."

"I'm not going to worry about it," she said.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Congressman Billybob]

It will be interesting to see the reasons why 112 of the would-be disqualified candidates were knocked off the ballot. I submit that the most common reason will be failure to file 65 valid signatures, second most common will be failure to file the required financial disclosure form, and the least common reason will be that their checks bounced.

Congressman Billybob

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