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Two candidates for public office were left feeling a bit nervous this week after learning that mailed copies of the Official Humboldt County Voter Information Guide don’t include their carefully crafted candidate statements.

Christopher Honar, who’s running for a seat on the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District’s Board of Commissioners, and Victor Garcia, a candidate for Eureka City Council, are both hoping voters catch the statements that were subsequently mailed out separately by the Humboldt County Elections Office.

How did these mistakes happen?

“The simple answer is human error,” said Juan Pablo Cervantes, Humboldt County’s clerk/recorder and registrar of voters, in an emailed statement. “As soon as we identified each issue, we worked to correct it as quickly and completely as possible. In both cases, we mailed impacted voters a letter explaining the error, along with a copy of the missing candidate statement.”

Honar noticed his statement was missing when he flipped through the guide a week ago. 

“I noticed immediately that it wasn’t there,” he said, “and then I called the Elections Office and alerted them to the problem.”

The supplemental mailing with his statement arrived at his house — and presumably many others — on Tuesday. But Honar worries that this follow-up mail will blend in with all the bills and junk people receive.

“It was mailed in an envelope just with a tiny County of Humboldt logo, and it just didn’t have the same visibility as the Election Guide does, with the printed graphics, the format and all of that,” Honar said.

Garcia, meanwhile, told the Outpost he received a call Monday morning from Cervantes informing him of the mistake, apologizing for the omission and letting him know what the next steps are. He said Cervantes explained that another candidate’s statement was accidentally printed in an extra-large type and the Hmong and Vietnamese translations got double-printed, which bumped some of Garcia’s material off of the publication entirely.

“So, my [statement in] Hmong and Vietnamese [got printed] but not my English and Spanish for about half of the batches,” Garcia said. 

He described the error as “a little frustrating and scary” and said he shares Honar’s concern.

“While I appreciate a second insert being sent out, you know, that’s just another piece of paper that — given all the paper being mailed out in terms of elections — might get discarded or forgotten,” he said. “But on my end, you can only do so much. I’m just going to continue knocking on doors.”

He is also hoping voters will visit his campaign website and do enough research to learn about him.

Honar said the only explanation he got was that there had been a printing error. 

“I was told that the original proof supplied [by the printer to the county] did have my statement in them,” he said, adding that he thinks the Elections Office staff “works really hard, and I think they’re really doing their best in this situation.”

Cervantes noted that a similar error happened in 2020, before he took office, and the Elections Office handled it the same way: sending out letters that explained the error and along with copies of the missing statement.

“We’re also assessing the entire workflow, from the initial creation of the Voter Information Guides through the various stages of review and proofing,” he said. “We’re working closely with our printing vendor to identify opportunities to add additional checks through the printing process before guides are mailed to voters.”

Garcia said he appreciates Elections Office staff reaching out and trying to make it right, though he remains troubled by the fact that it happened twice this cycle after the similar incident in 2020.

“It’s just a bummer, and I really would like for that not to happen in the future because it’s such a small community,” Garcia said. “I mean, it’s tough.”

Cervantes closed with another apology:

“We sincerely apologize to Mr. Garcia, Mr. Honar, and the affected voters. Our responsibility is to ensure candidates are treated fairly and voters have the information they need to make informed decisions. When mistakes happen, it’s our responsibility to acknowledge them, correct them, and improve our process.”

Below, we’ve reproduced both candidates’ ballot statements. You can also refer to their campaign websites (which are linked in their statements) for more information.

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Christopher Honar’s candidate statement:

CANDIDATES NAME: CHRISTOPHER HONAR

AGE: 47

OCCUPATION: NATURAL RESOURCES PROFESSIONAL

From beautiful bayside trails and fishing fleets at work to shorelines alive with otters, birds, and other wildlife, Humboldt Bay is where our natural environment, community, and local economy come together. Its health ensures the prosperity of our working waterfronts and the recreational opportunities that make our home an extraordinary place to live.

I’ve been a small business owner, manufacturing facility manager, and chair of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority’s Citizen Advisory Committee. Currently, I lead watershed restoration, habitat enhancement, and public access infrastructure projects for the Mattole Restoration Council. These experiences have given me the practical skills to advance innovation, build strong Local, State, Federal, and Tribal partnerships, and provide the fiscal, ecological, and cultural stewardship Humboldt Bay needs.

As your Commissioner, I’ll work hard to enhance Humboldt Bay, expand recreational access and pursue appropriate economic opportunities. I’ll build partnerships and policies that move good ideas into action while ensuring public investments benefit local workers, businesses, and communities.

I believe a healthy bay and economic prosperity go hand-in-hand. With your vote, together we can protect what makes Humboldt Bay great while creating new opportunities for generations to come.

honar4harbor.org

/s/ Christopher Honar

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Victor Garcia’s statement:

For Member of the City Council

Victor E. Garcia Jr.

Age:30

Occupation: Permit Technician

We are facing an affordability crisis that is pushing people into hunger and poverty. I believe that government can and should be a force for good in people’s lives. Local government, in particular, has the duty to prove that it can deliver a dignified quality of life for working people.

To that end, we need a rent board to keep people housed without forcing them to go to court just to assert their legal rights. We need affordable solutions like tiny homes and boarding houses because we face not only a housing crisis but also an income crisis. We need to grow our economy by supporting agriculture and making finished goods in Humboldt again. We need better healthcare to address our mental health and addiction crisis but also ensure everyone has access to basic care.

As a permit technician for the City of Arcata, son of a small business owner, and an active member of the community, I have spent my life learning how to make systems work better.

This campaign is about bringing together our community of loving, artistic, independent people to shape an uncertain future. I look forward to earning your vote. You can learn more at www.Victor4Eureka.com.