The City Auditor’s office denied Ms. Tate funding for her campaign today. Both B!x and Jack say that it was a case of paperwork filed in the wrong order, and after reading the missive in question at least five times, I have to agree.

Apparently, when there’s a flaw in a candidate’s qualifying donations (in Ms. Tate’s case, two people donated twice), the candidate has to find the error, fix it, and notify the City Elections Officer (in the form of a Request to Remain Eligible form) before filing for public funding.

It’s like taking a math test: once you’re done, you’re done. Your answers are graded. Don’t take it to the teacher and ask them to scan it for mistakes you might have made before grading it. If you expect public money, expect your records to be examined extremely closely. It’s only 1000 entries: hardly the most demanding task to dump into a database and check for duplicates.

I’m 100% fine with nit-picking. I love it when the auditors check paperwork closely before handing out my money. I think we need to ask (not because I don’t have faith in Ms. Francois’ office, but so that I can show that I’m not totally na√Øve about politics) if the Office of Elections sifted all candidate’s paperwork with the same fine-toothed comb they did Ms. Tate’s.

Related posts:

1. Don’t Let Bad Handwriting Keep You From Voting
2. I’ve voted - have you?
3. Clean Campaign Financing
4. Portland Public Schools
5. Zupan’s Cashier’s Request for Prosthetic Arm $$ Is Denied