Next Tuesday, March 11, Fountain Hills voters will go to the polls to select a mayor and three council members to govern the Town of Fountain Hills.

There are six candidates vying for three seats on the council and two candidates seeking the office of mayor. Mayor Wally Nichols is retiring and has chosen not to seek another two-year term. He will be completing five years as mayor of Fountain Hills.

Former Mayor Jerry Miles and current Councilman Jay Schlum are challenging one another to replace Nichols in the mayor’s chair. That race, with just two candidates, will be decided in next week’s primary.

The six council hopefuls include Lina Bellenir, Dennis Contino, Cassie Hansen, Kathie Kelly, incumbent Councilman Keith McMahan and Mike Tyler. The council members receive four-year terms.

If three people are not elected outright in the March Primary Election, the General Election on Tuesday, May 20, will be used as a runoff election for the council seats.

Any candidates who receive greater than 50 percent of the votes cast on March 11 will be elected to the council.

For the runoff there will be at least two candidates for each seat that is not filled outright in March.

ID rules

Early voting and voter identification rules are creating a system unfamiliar to many people.

Maricopa County mailed out 5,450 early ballots as of Feb. 22. This includes people who asked for an early ballot and became part of the permanent mail ballot list set up by the county.

Voters who receive an early ballot should fill it out and mail it back so it is in the hands of election officials by Election Day.

People who don’t make it to the mailbox in time are able to take their ballot to any election polling station on Election Day and drop it off.

Through this Friday, March 7, residents may vote early by casting a ballot at Town Hall. Those with a mail ballot may also drop off their ballot at Town Hall while election officials are there during business hours.

Anyone who received a ballot by mail, but does not return it and still wants to vote on Election Day, may do so. They will need to use a provisional ballot that will not be counted until it is verified that the person did not return the mail ballot.

When voters go to the polls on Election Day they will need to show identification in order to cast a ballot.

One form of identification that has a photo and name and address is sufficient. This might include a driver’s license or non-operators identification card, a tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification or any valid United States federal, state or local government issued identification.

If a voter does not have one form of photo identification, they may use two types of identification that includes a name and address.

Examples of this identification includes material provided by the elections department such as a voter registration card or recorder’s certification, and any “official election material” sent to the voter that includes their name and address.

Also acceptable are utility bills dated within 90 days of the election, or a bank or credit card statement also dated within 90 days of the election.

A valid Arizona vehicle registration, Indian census card, property tax statement of the voter’s residence, vehicle insurance card or other valid federal, state or local government issued identification with name and address is also acceptable.

It should be noted that Social Security cards are not valid because they do not include an address.

Any voter who comes to the polls without proper identification will be permitted to cast a provisional ballot and will have three days following this election to provide proper identification to the county recorder and their ballot will be counted.

There are nine voting precincts in Fountain Hills and five polling locations. They are as follows:

Precinct 1: Christ’s Church, 15555 Bainbridge Drive.
Precincts 2 & 3: Fountains, United Methodist Church, 15300 Fountain Hills Blvd.
Precinct 4: Fountain Hills Unified School District Office, 16000 Palisades Blvd. (high school campus).
Precincts 5, 7 & 8: Fountain View Village, 16455 Avenue of the Fountains.
Precincts 6 & 9: Fountain Hills Community Center, 13001 La Montana Drive.

Precinct 9 is a new one, so these voters used to be in a different precinct. Check the sample ballot sent by mail for the polling location, or go to the Maricopa County Recorder’s Web site to use the polling place locators at www.recorder.maricopa.gov.