City Council Race Canceled After Candidate Disqualified

It looks like there won't be a after all.

At the last moment on Friday, the deadline for candidates to file for the race, Constantino Anezinos, a new San Bruno resident and a newcomer to politics, submitted his paperwork to run for the City Council race.

But Anezinos was disqualified this week because he wasn't registered as a San Bruno voter, said City Clerk Carol Bonner.

That means the three council members up for re-election—Mayor Jim Ruane, Vice Mayor Michael Salazar and Councilwoman Irene O'Connell—will be uncontested in the Nov. 8 election.

"It's kind of a bummer," Bonner said today. "Had he taken his papers out earlier, this could have been easily rectified."

With no challengers facing any of the incumbents, the city will now save $80,000 that would have gone to running the election.

This will be the first time since 2003 that the City Council won't have an election, Bonner said.

Anezinos, 26, the owner of Zorba's Pizza in Millbrae, said he was surprised about his disqualification because he thought he had followed all of the rules.

When he submitted his paperwork for the election on Friday, he had all of his signatures ready but was told that he had to be a registered voter in San Bruno to qualify for the race. He moved to San Bruno eight months ago and had been a registered voter in Millbrae and, according to state election law, a resident has to be registered to vote in the city in which he lives to be able to run for office.

So he rushed to the San Mateo County Elections Office and registered as a San Bruno voter before the deadline and thought everything was OK. So he thought.

Earlier this week, Anezinos said he got a call from City Hall saying his signatures would be considered void because they were received before he changed his voter registration information.

"I guess technically it's the law, so I can't be mad," he said. "But it's crazy."

Bonner said the City Council will hold a special meeting next week, either Wednesday or Thursday, to officially cancel the election and appoint the three incumbents.

Although Anezinos was discouraged about how the election process was handled, he said he still plans to run for office in the coming years.

"Two years from now, you'll see me again," he said.