Former Honolulu City Councilman Duke Bainum said yesterday he will likely challenge whether state House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, his opponent for a Manoa council seat, properly filed his paperwork with the city clerk's office before Tuesday afternoon's deadline.

Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa), scrambled to get the required signatures from registered voters — and at least one city worker apparently signed after the deadline — but he believes he had enough valid signatures to qualify.

"Anyone has the right to go look," he said.

Caldwell had quickly filed for the council after the unexpected announcement that City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi would run for mayor.

Bainum, who had backed Kobayashi's decision, was ready to file and looked to be the best-known candidate to replace her until Caldwell stepped forward at the last minute.

"I will certainly pursue it because I think the integrity of the system needs to be protected," Bainum said.

A Republican state House candidate in Manoa, meanwhile, plans to challenge whether her potential Democratic opponent properly filed her paperwork with the state Office of Elections.

Jerilyn Jeffryes, a retired medical administrator and community activist, beat the deadline for a campaign she thought would be against Caldwell. But Caldwell withdrew and Chrystn Eads, an aide to Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, rushed to take his place Tuesday afternoon.

"In fairness to all the candidates who followed the rules for filing papers, I urge the city and the state election officers to do the right thing by disqualifying any candidate or candidates who did not meet the filing deadline and the necessary requirements," said Jeffryes, who filed on the last day because it appeared Caldwell would be unopposed and she wanted to foster a two-party system.

Eads said she was at the state Office of Elections downtown offices just before 4 p.m., but because of delays as other people filed, did not start her paperwork until just before the 4:30 p.m. deadline and did not have signatures from registered voters and other material completed until well after.

"I had people on street corners waiting, my husband was in the car, I could have just driven the loop around Downtown, and gotten the signatures and been back at the office by 4:30," Eads said of the delay.

Challenges can be filed up until 30 days before the September primary. The state's chief elections officer and county clerks have the authority to issue preliminary decisions and, if it is determined a candidate should be disqualified, can take the matter to circuit court for a ruling.

State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, R-32nd (Lower Pearlridge, 'Aiea, Halawa), said Jeffryes and several others witnessed irregularities in how Eads filed her paperwork and questioned whether she was given special treatment. She said Brian Schatz, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawai'i, was at the elections office with Eads and spoke to elections officials on her behalf.

"I believe that it was through what I would consider, you know, encouraging, bullying, whatever word you want to use, that she was able to file," Finnegan said at a news conference at state GOP headquarters.

Schatz said he urged elections officials to err on the side of letting Eads file, since she was at the office before the deadline, and said the party would have likely challenged if she was denied.

"It's sad that instead of focusing on recruiting strong candidates or generating ideas for Hawai'i voters, the GOP is trying to knock people off the ballot," Schatz said yesterday. "We were hoping for a spirited and respectful start to an exciting campaign cycle, but the Hawai'i Republicans have already dragged these elections into the mud."