But unlike Marcus Giavanni, Fiorino isn't contesting this decision. Instead, he plans to run as a write-in, even as he offers the story of his rejection as a cautionary tale for future candidates.
The first batch of signatures Fiorino submitted to the city numbered 330 -- a safe figure, he felt, since it allowed for a 10 percent margin of error. But man, was he unpleasantly surprised. Only 190 of the 330 were approved. He says 84 signatories were rejected because they weren't registered to vote, with 53 tossed for including incorrect information, and a handful of others nixed for illegibility, duplication, etc.
So he hit the streets again and returned with just over 200 additional signatures -- certainly more than enough, he figured. But no: Just ninety of the new scrawls were okayed, with the remainder getting the Heisman for a potpourri of reasons of the sort outlined above. That left him with 280 signatures -- twenty shy of the 300 required to put him on the ballot.
His advice to future signature collectors?
"I would go for triple what you need," he says. "Because I had nearly double, and I came up short."
He doesn't blame the city for this situation. Instead, he's critical of the citizenry: "I want to bring awareness to the fact that the electorate isn't staying involved even at the most minimal level of just checking their registration."
To become a write-in candidate, Fiorino must get an affidavit cleared by the powers-that-be -- an unnecessary step, in his view, since he already filled out something similar to declare his candidacy in the first place. Nonetheless, he's willing to do so again -- and since he planned to run a word-of-mouth campaign in the first place, he doesn't think he'll have to change his approach under his new circumstances. The main challenge, he believes, is teaching people how to spell his name.
In the meantime, he encourages Denver residents to register to vote by the April 4 deadline in order to ensure that their voices will be heard in ways that evaded hundreds of those who signed his petitions. To do so, visit the Secretary of State's website by clicking here.
More from our Politics archive: "James Mejia: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Doug Linkhart: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Michael Forrester: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Michael Hancock: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Danny Lopez: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Chris Romer: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Carol Boigon: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Thomas Andrew Wolf: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Eric Zinn, mayoral hopeful, wants Denver to lose a million pounds," "Gerald Styron, Denver mayor candidate, once threatened to bring a gun to Westword," "Paul Noel Fiorino: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Dwight Henson: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Theresa Spahn: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Jeff Peckman: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Vincent Macieyovski: A Denver mayor's race profile," "Ken Simpson: A Denver mayor's race profile," and "Mark Gruber: A Denver mayor's race profile."
