Kniffen writes his name into the ring again in two races

There’s now a familiar, official write-in candidate in the 2016 Cambria Community Services District and Coast Unified School District election races: Stephen Kniffen.

Kniffen is the longtime manager of the Sea Chest Oyster Bar, active member of American Legion Post No. 432’s Sons of the Legion group and chairman of the district’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space Commission. He was raised in Cambria.

He ran as a write-in CCSD candidate in 2012, and in 2014, he ran in that status for both district boards.

He’s notified political-forum organizers about his write-in status.

The first forum will be for candidates in the CCSD race at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Cambria Pines Lodge Peacock Room.

The second forum will be for school board candidates at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, in the Old Cambria Grammar School, 1350 Main St.

Kniffen signed up as a write-in Sept. 16 and notified The Cambrian by email the next day. He said he’s running again in part because he was dismayed by the proliferation of campaign signs popping up in so many of the community’s public right-of-way areas.

In several interviews, recent and past, Kniffen said he runs as a write-in candidate because “I believe that our system is broken,” and he believes the solution “starts with the write-in campaign and the ability of the voter to have enough knowledge of what he or she is doing to be able to actually write a name on a piece of paper.”

Kniffen said, “We need more options in the mix … but we are stuck because the system forces options on us. I won’t be part of it. … If you have to convince people of the value of your position with slick campaigns, then you diminish the value of your capacity.”

Mail-in ballots will be available starting Oct. 11.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect date for the candidates forum at Cambria Pines Lodge. The correct date is Thursday, Sept. 29.

This story was originally published September 21, 2016 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Kniffen writes his name into the ring again in two races."