Nearly 10 days after Election Day, Tom Stone and Randall Lund received notice from the county informing them that they had been disqualified from their respective races.

Stone was competing with Brad Ehlert to represent the Midway families. Before his disqualification; he was in the lead with a margin of almost 4%with the ballots remaining to be counted.

Lund was challenging incumbent Kim Dickerson to represent the eastern side of the school district. Dickerson was in the lead with a margin of 23% before Lund’s disqualification.

Both Stone and Lund correctly submitted their financial returns after the primaries, but failed to submit general election returns due on October 29.

Stone said he plans to fight his disqualification. His son and campaign manager, Tate Stone, said they were taking legal action.

Tom Stone said he submitted his financial information late on Oct. 31 due to a busy few days.

“My son, literally, he just had a third child, and all this time this little baby was a month early and mom was in bed and we were taking care of her other kids. It was a crazy time, so it slipped,” he said.

Lund also admitted to missing the deadline. He and the Stones were alerted to the errors after a call from a KPCW reporter.

And after speaking with other candidates about his disqualification, Tom Stone said he discovered others were receiving email communications from Wasatch County Clerk-Auditor Joey Granger that never made it to his inbox reception.

“(I) found out that they were receiving emails from Joey on a regular basis, and I say that ‘they,’ being all the other candidates in Wasatch County, including my opponent, had received reminder emails,” said Tom Stone. “The last one was October 2, and then October 29 to say, ‘Hey, make sure you remember to send this.’ And I was the only one not on that list.

Stone’s campaign received reminder emails in June regarding key financial disclosures, but that was the last time it heard from the auditor’s clerk’s office.

Wasatch County government offices are closed on Fridays and Granger was unable to respond to KPCW’s request for comment.

The Stones said they also spoke with the lieutenant governor’s office, which is responsible for state elections. The office told them the Wasatch County Clerk-Auditor’s office may have deviated from protocol.

Under state lawIf a candidate does not file financial returns on time, the county clerk is supposed to send an electronic notice to the candidate.

The candidate must then pay a $100 fine and has 24 hours to submit their disclosures before being disqualified. Lund and the Stones claim they received no such notices.

Lund also said he was not aware of any sanctions.

“There was never any question of possible sanctions for non-compliance, was there? There was a reference to the state code,” he said. “I wasn’t even aware of the possibility of just being, you know, disqualified.”

Lund said he was trying to contact the clerk’s office to determine if the disqualification was appropriate and if a fine was still required.

Tate Stone said the law could also prevent a candidate from being disqualified after the election. Tom Stone said the deadline was to prevent this from happening.

“That’s why October 29 is such an important date, and October 30, so that if it’s a disqualified candidate, it’s not on the ballot,” he said. declared. “The letter was sent on November 14 and said 10 days after the election I get a letter saying, ‘Hey, you’re disqualified.’”

The Stones said the lieutenant governor’s office recommended they consult an attorney. The lieutenant governor’s office declined KPCW’s request for comment, saying it was a county matter.

The Wasatch County Board is scheduled to certify the election results on Tuesday, November 19. But Tate Stone said he spoke with board members who expressed concerns given that the disqualification was announced less than a week before that deadline.