EVERETT — A Snohomish County Superior Court judge granted a motion from the city of Everett on Wednesday to intervene in a court case that alleges a City Council candidate in District 4 is ineligible to appear on the ballot.
The largely procedural move laid out a timeline for the steps needed to ensure the election contest process complies with state law. The city stressed in its court filing it wasn’t taking a position on who should be certified as the primary’s top two lawful vote getters — that’s up to a judge to decide at a later date.
A hearing to determine Niko Battle’s eligibility to appear on the ballot is now scheduled for Sept. 9.
Battle, who earned the most votes in the Aug. 5 primary for the District 4 seat, did not attend the hearing and did not respond to a subsequent request for comment. In a court filing Wednesday, officials said they were unable to reach Battle through phone or by visiting his listed address.
In the filing, a process server — an individual who serves legal documents to people involved with court cases — wrote they attempted to serve Battle at the address listed on his voter registration. That address leads to a south Everett apartment complex, but with no apartment or unit number listed.
After he arrived, the process server called Battle and didn’t receive an answer, he wrote in a declaration. He then entered the apartment complex and spoke with its manager, who told him Battle is not on a lease and does not receive mail at the address, the filing read. The manager also has no record Battle residing there and has never seen him on the premises, according to the filing.
Under state law, if a court rules that Battle is ineligible to be on the November ballot, the third-place candidate — in this case, Luis Burbano — would take his place.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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