All entries tagged with “Elections”

Sarasota voters will vote on when to vote

Posted by Jacob Ogles on Tuesday Jan 19, 2016 7:47 pm

Sarasota city voters will soon decide whether city elections should be held in November instead in the spring. 

Sarasota City Commissioners voted 3-2 to place a referendum on the ballot this November which would reschedule future elections for Sarasota City Commission to be held in even-numbered years, concurrent with presidential or gubernatorial elections. Mayor Willie Shaw and Commissioner Susan Chapman voted against the action.

Supporters of the action say moving the election will increase turnout, while opponents fear city issues will be minimized as voters focus more attention of federal, state and county elections happening at the same time.

Sarasota Considers Rescheduling Election

Posted by Jacob Ogles on Monday Jul 6, 2015 10:07 pm

When and how Sarasota voters elect city commissioners could soon be a question they decide at the ballot box. Sarasota City Commissioners in a 3-vote tonight moved forward in creating ordinances that would reschedule the city electuoion from spring in even-numbered years to fall in odd-numbered years.

The commission moved ahead with two potential options: 1. Move to an August-November election cycle to coincide with state and federal elections in even-numbered years; or 2. Move to a November election and hold a winner-takes-all contest without a runoff.

Sarasota on Monday to Consider Change in Election Cycle

Posted by Jacob Ogles on Tuesday Jun 30, 2015 12:24 pm

Sarasota City Commissioners on Monday will consider asking voters if city elections should be rescheduled to coincide with state and national elections.

The discussion was raised in early June by Vice Mayor Suzanne Atwell, who said voter turnout would be improved if city contests coincided with gubernatorial and presidential elections. She advocated having a first city election coincide with state primaries in late August and for runoffs to coincide with the general election in early November, and said elections should take place in even-numbered years. A change in election dates would require a change to the city charter. Critics of such a change say there is no guarantee turnout is city contests will increase, particular during the initial August election, and that city issues may take a back seat to other state and federal matters when it comes to volunteer interest and media attention.

City Attorney Robert Fournier said he will bring the issue back before commissioners on Monday. A majority of the board could put a charter amendment up as a referendum, leaving the final decision to city voters. Fournier will ask commissioners on Monday whether they want an ordinance drafted that could do just that. If so, the matter would need to come back to the commission in a public hearing and approved before the referendum was scheduled for a citywide vote.

Fournier said if commissioners do want an ordinance drafted, he would need to know when commissioners want the question to go before voters. Commissioners could schedule the election to coincide with another election, such as the primary election in August 2016 or the general election in 2016, or they could pay to hold a special election. 

And before the issue was put before voters, commissioners would also need to lay out a schedule for phasing the change in, Fournier said. Right now, two city commissioners are scheduled to have terms expire in May 2017 and the other three commissioners have terms expiring in May 2019. "I want to avoid truncating anyone's term," Fournier said. To do so, Fournier believes, could open the city up to a legal challenge. The matter has been handled differently in other cities. For example, when Bradenton moved its city elections from odd- to even-numbered years, the terms of council members and the mayor were extended by a year.

Tags