After setback, council hopeful announces write-in campaign

Andrew Williams’ name may not be printed on the Nov. 3 election ballot, but the 22-year-old independent still plans to campaign for Charlottesville City Council as a write-in candidate.

“Unfortunately I did not meet the signature requirements,” Williams said of the necessary paperwork, which required that he obtain a petition with 125 signatures of registered Charlottesville voters.

“I still plan on running for City Council, I am just a write-in candidate now,” he said.

Williams announced his decision on Wednesday. The four official candidates for the City Council in November are Democrats Dave Norris, who is the current mayor, and Kristin Szakos, and independents Bob Fenwick and Paul Long.

Though Williams said he collected around 140 signatures, many of them turned out to be from Albemarle County or from unregistered voters. He said that many of the individuals he met with said they were registered to vote in Charlottesville.

“I can only go based on what people tell me,” Williams said.

Independent candidates can request to be notified of petition problems that can be corrected before the filing deadline, but Williams did not submit such a request in writing to the Virginia State Electoral Board.

Charlottesville’s office of voter registration called Williams on Tuesday to let him know about the problem, but he was not able to get enough signatures before the filing deadline at 7 p.m. that day.

Williams said he thinks he can still run a successful campaign.

“My efforts will be directed toward success,” he said.