Santa Monica Council Candidate Mounts Successful Challenge to Make Ballot

By Jorge Casuso

August 27, 2012 -- Good thing Armen Melkonians is a "detail-oriented guy" who won't take no for an answer, or he wouldn't be on the November 6 ballot for Santa Monica City Council.

The environmental engineer, who submitted papers by last Wednesday's deadline, successfully challenged the LA County Registrar's determination that his nominating petitions were three signatures short.

Having shown that he had gathered the valid signatures of 100 Santa Monica registered voters, Melkonians will join 14 other candidates in the race for four open seats on the seven-member council. ("Fourteen Santa Monica Candidates Make Final Council Ballot," August 22, 2012)

"I thought, there's got to be a way to do it, to take the bull by the horns and do it yourself," said Melkonians, who is making his first council bid.

Melkonians had gathered 136 signatures, giving himself at least a 30 percent cushion, he said.

"I figured 30 percent was close, and apparently it was almost close enough," he said.

But when he combed through the signatures on his nominating petitions, Melkonians himself disqualified six, leaving him with only 30 signatures he could challenge.

After the City Clerk reinserted one of the registered voters the County had mistakenly disqualified, Melkonians paid a visit to the county registrar and looked at the 29 disqualified signatures remaining.

He looked to see if they were not registered, or were registered to a different address or were registered outside the city.

"I found two that were really registered and took them to the clerk," he said.

The clerk checked them, then took them to the City Attorney, who verified that the two signatures were indeed valid, Melkonians said.

The secret to his successful challenge?

"I'm an environmental engineer, a detailed-oriented guy," he said. "That's what I do every day."

And he didn't take no for an answer.