Orem City Council hopeful Nichelle Jensen was late to turn in a campaign financial statement and has been disqualified as a candidate — six days before the election. The statement was due at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

By Wednesday morning, she was already marked as disqualified on the Orem City website.

A statement released by the Orem City recorder said:

“Nichelle Jensen, candidate for the Orem City Council, has been disqualified from the 2021 municipal general election for failing to timely file financial disclosures required by state law and city ordinance. See Utah Code Section 10-3-208 and Orem City Code Section 2-3-4. Consequently, any votes cast for the candidate will not be counted.

“Since her name is already on the ballot, the city is obligated to notify the residents of the disqualification as much as possible. We will be sending out emails, posting on Facebook, the city website and any other social media platforms as much as we can.”

“I talked with her last night and made her aware of the situation. She still provided me with her financial statement but not until 6:35 pm,” said Jody Baker, Orem City recorder.

In a Facebook post on her campaign page, Jensen said the following:

“I’ve been disqualified from the election. I simply missed a financial statement deadline today at 5 p.m. which is the dumbest mistake to ever make. I set reminders for myself to submit it last night, but when they went off I was answering as many emails and messages as possible on the Woodbury sign issue … and I told myself I would finish emails, draft a statement on the Woodbury stuff, and then I would get to the financial statement. I finished all of my writing and went to bed without sending my financial statement or setting a new reminder.”

Jensen’s statements were for a story published in the Daily Herald on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, she continued, “I went to work where my brain was fully in deadline management mode, came home and did all of the homework help, hot glue gunned all the kid costumes for their parade, then drove kids around town to get what they needed for their Battle of the Books deadline this week, just in time to make it make it to my commitment to say the pledge of allegiance at tonight’s city council meeting,” she said.

“I had no more reminders set and at no point throughout the day did my own brain throw me a bone. At tonight’s council meeting I saw the city recorder walking up to me and I remembered and immediately knew what the consequences were. I could not be more furious and upset with myself. I feel stupid and I’m beyond crushed and feel I’ve let so many people down,” Jensen said.

“I’ve turned these financial statements in three times before, I understand the severity of not meeting this deadline. I was so just so derailed by diffusing the firestorm that has been the past few days with the Woodbury stuff, I just completely blew it,” Jensen added.

“Here is what I will say about what has been going on with the Woodbury sign issue: I have been putting out fires from the dissemination of disinformation (and misinformation by some) around the clock,” Jensen said. “If you have been following this, I hope you have taken the time to read the agreement I signed folks are referencing.”

Jensen continued by expressing concern about what she described as the national trend of unsubstantiated rumors and claims of conspiracy coming to Orem’s campaign.

“We have completely resigned to the trend of the decay of the definition of facts and the decay of truth. The need to vilify other ideas and candidates in order to incite negative emotions in voters has completely replaced the practice of standing on one’s own platform,” Jensen said.

Jensen concluded by saying, “I hope to write a better message of thanks when I’m not so heartbroken, but I wanted to let you know I am beyond grateful for every single one of you. Thank you all, I’m so so sorry.”

The city council race now becomes a five-way battle between Tom Macdonald, Quinn Mecham, LaNae Millett, David Spencer and Shaunte Zundel for three open seats.

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