The one drawback of print journalism is that errors are part of the permanent public record. One of my previous managing editors told me after I was beating myself up after my first error nearly 20 years ago that we’re only as good as our last paper and we can only make a correction in the future, not unpublish the past.
In my editorial on March 9, I wrote that Sedona “Candidates have until the end of April to turn in their packets with their signatures.” This was my error. The deadline is Monday, April 4.
I usually reference specific dates in my editorials, but in this particular editorial I was loosely relying on my memory. It was my fault for not double checking the date as I usually do and writing it to be accurate.
Fortunately, some of our readers noted the error and contacted us about it.
“… the reason the current Sedona City Council has a reputation of tone-deaf aloofness and ineptitude is because the council members elected in 2020 haven’t spent time meeting with the public or attending festivals or events where they can speak with voters …”
Another portion of that editorial was a bit unclear. I wrote, “Should you run into a candidate or their proxies collecting signatures, as a voter in Sedona city limits, nothing precludes you from signing more than one petition, even for the same contested seat.”
I regret that I was unclear, but I meant to state that as there are three open Sedona City Council seats, so voters can sign candidates to more than one petition — up to three, but no more than three petitions — to put them on the ballot.
For mayor, one seat, candidates can only sign one petition. I did not mention the mayor’s race, which was my oversight.
Town and city clerks and county recorders check the names on a portion of petitions, and if a voter has signed four petitions, only the three oldest count, while any excess are tossed out signatures.
If a voter runs into multiple candidates on the same day and marks down the same date as happened with many candidates at the Sedona St. Patrick’s parade on March 12, who were handing out candidate materials, it’s hard to tell who signed first, meaning signatures signed on the same date might get invalidated.
The new process imposed after COVID-19 allows candidates to collect signatures online through a website verifying their voter ID or driver’s license, meaning candidates are no longer required to collect signatures in person by going door to door or speaking with voters directly at public events.
Part of the reason the current Sedona City Council has a reputation of tone-deaf aloofness and ineptitude is because the council members elected in 2020 haven’t spent time meeting with the public or attending festivals or events where they can speak with voters, but instead communicate virtually via social media or email. They lack visceral connection of interacting voting public and hearing their concerns.
We thank the eagle-eyed readers who noticed these issues and brought them to our attention for clarification and correction.
It’s interesting to note that only three out of our seven Sedona City Council members have contacted me since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged about any of my editorials, leading me to believe that the rest must wholeheartedly agree with all of my editorials, all the time and never find any error whatsoever. Right? Certainly that is what I must believe considering previous council members and mayors would email me or call me, if there was an error, typo or need for correction or if they concurred or not. Readers who we write stories about are quick to contact us if there’s a mistake in a story about them or their friends, so if council members don’t, the only reason I can surmise is wholehearted agreement.
I appreciated the robust discussion I had with former council members willing to stake a position and engage when they disagreed or had questions or suggestions about our published opinions.
In any case, acknowledging errors doesn’t change what remains in print. Once it hits our pages, all we can do is acknowledge the errors we made, apologize to readers and ensure to them that we’ll do better in the future.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
