St. George Write-Ins Fined for Missing Disclaimers

It seems ironic given how things eventually turned out: Mayor Carmen Wilkerson is being fined for activities during her ; but in just one short month she won't be mayor any more, and the city she will .

Nonetheless, the gears of beauracracy have ground their way to Wilkerson's chit.

According to a South County Times article this week, the Missouri Ethics Committee has fined Wilkerson and the three other write-in candidates $100 each for not having "paid for by" on some of their early campaign materials.

The slap-on-the-wrist violation applied to one mailing and 10 yard signs. Afterward, Wilkerson worked with the elections commission to resolve the issue, and the rest of her campaign material complied with ethics rules.

The complaint was filed by , who was an opposing candidate and son of alderwoman Nelda True.

Wilkerson and her collegues admitted to leaving off the disclaimers, which they said was a mistake.

"It was totally ignorance on my part. I’m not a politician, I’m an activist, and I’m prepared to deal with the elections commission on it,” Wilkerson told Patch after the election.

Other mistakes were made during that election, which had one of the highest rates of voter turnout at a municipal election in St. George history. Former mayor Mary Kaufmann said that poll workers were heard asking voters if they were planning on using write-in ballots. This is indeed against the rules for poll workers but may have been a natural, albeit illegal, response to the unexpected slew of voters asking for help with write-in ballots. Wilkerson countered that she had no control over election workers.

For full coverage of the St. George saga, read out series .