There will be plenty of choices for local voters come November; as nine candidates have qualified for the Escalon City Council race.

Five of the candidates filed for the three available four-year terms on the council; four people are seeking the one available two-year unexpired term vacated by former councilman and incoming Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero.

The original deadline of Friday, Aug. 12 was extended through 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 17 for the four-year terms because incumbent Robert Swift did not file for reelection.

Those that qualified to run for the four-year terms are: incumbents Ed Alves, Peter Krumeich and Andrew Hagan, who is currently filling the Laugero post. He chose, however, to seek a full four-year term. Joining the incumbents on the ballot will be Malinda Walker and Jeremy Engle.

Seeking the two-year term are Kurt Danziger, Sherry Hill, Elsa Sandoval and Shawn Strohman.

The only person who originally pulled papers to run for office in November that did not qualify for the ballot was Rylan Butler, as city officials said he did not return the nomination papers.

“Voters will be asked on their ballot to vote for three of the five candidates for the four-year term of office, and to vote for one of the four candidates for the two-year term of office,” explained City Manager Dominique Romo. “The top three (vote-getting) candidates will win the four-year seats and the top candidate will win the two-year seat.”

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. The Times plans to have candidate profiles of all the council candidates, featuring those a few weeks in advance of the actual Election Day.

Escalon does not elect council members by a district or area; candidates run at large. The mayor is then chosen from among the five members of the council, along with the mayor pro tem. Ed Alves currently serves as the city mayor, with Swift as mayor pro tem.