June Louks, a Malibu resident whose attempt to run for City Council was initially denied after Los Angeles County officials found she did not qualify for the April 8 election, is back in the race, Malibu City Manager Jim Thorsen said Friday.
Louks and fellow potential candidate Jacky Tomlinson said on Thursday their petitions to qualify were not certified because some of the registered voters who signed their petitions did not list correct addresses.
In order to enter the City Council race, candidates must obtain 20 signatures from registered Malibu voters and provide their addresses.
Louks told The Malibu Times Thursday she was working with the city clerk’s office to correct the addresses. Twelve of the 30 she provided were not approved by the county, Louks said.
On Friday, City Clerk Lisa Pope announced in an email that Louks had qualified for the race.
Thorsen said when the city received the candidates’ nomination petitions back from the county, there were 18 qualified voters on Louks’ list of signatures. After Louks approached the city, Thorsen said they found that two of the disputed signatures were from valid addresses of registered Malibu voters in Paradise Cove at a location the county refers to by a different name.
“It’s up to the city clerk to review all of these,” Thorsen said. “We’ve gone through and sometimes in the past the county will not always have everything 100 percent correct.”
Thorsen said the city can certify a candidate with obtaining approval from the County of Los Angeles.
“Everything seemed to be in accordance with the law, [so] we… let her come into the race,” Thorsen said.
Jacky Tomlinson, another potential candidate for City Council, was found to come up three shy of the 20-signature minimum, Thorsen said, with 17. That conclusion is still the case after the city and county recorder’s review, he said Friday.
June Louks could not be reached for comment as of Friday night.