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All elections provided for by this Charter, whether for the choice of officers or the submission of questions to the voters, shall be conducted by the election authorities prescribed by general law of the State; and the provisions of the general election laws of the State shall apply to all the elections except as provision is otherwise made by this Charter, and except further that the Council may, by ordinance, provide measures to promote and insure the purity and integrity of the ballot, and against corrupt practices in elections.
(Effective November 4, 2008)
The Mayor or any member of the Council may be removed from office by the electors of the City. The procedure for effecting such a removal shall be as follows:
Any elector of the City may make and file with the Clerk of the Council an affidavit stating the name of the officer whose removal is sought and the grounds alleged for such removal. The Clerk shall thereupon deliver to the elector making the affidavit copies of petition papers for demanding such a removal, printed copies of which he shall keep on file for distribution as herein provided. In issuing any such petition paper, the Clerk shall enter in a record to be kept in his office the name of the elector to whom issued, the date of issuance, and the number of papers issued, and shall certify upon each such paper the name of the elector to whom issued and the date of issuance. No petition paper shall be accepted as part of a petition unless it bears such certificate of the Clerk and unless filed as hereinafter provided.
(Effective November 8, 1994)
A petition demanding the removal of the Mayor or a member of the Council shall be known as a recall petition. A recall petition to be effective must be returned and filed with the City Clerk within thirty days after the filing of the affidavit as provided in the next preceding section, and to be sufficient, must bear the signatures of not less than twenty percent of those who voted in the City or ward respectively at the last preceding regular Municipal election. Within ten (10) days from the date of the filing of such petition, the Clerk shall determine the sufficiency thereof and attach thereto a certificate showing the result of his examination. If the Clerk shall certify that the petition is insufficient he shall set forth in the certificate the particulars in which the petition is defective, and shall return a copy of the certificate to the person designated in such petition to receive it. Such recall petition may be amended at any time within twenty (20) days after the return of a copy of the certificate of insufficiency by filing a supplementary petition upon additional petition papers, issued, signed and filed as provided herein for the original petition. The Clerk shall, within ten (10) days after such amendment is filed, make like examination of the amended petition, and if his certificate shall show the same to be still insufficient, he shall return it to the person designated in such petition to receive it, without prejudice, however, to the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
(Effective November 9, 1931)
If a recall petition, or amended petition, shall be certified by the Clerk to be sufficient he shall at once submit it to the Council with his certificate to that effect and shall notify the person whose removal is sought by such action. If the person whose removal is sought does not resign within five days after such notice the Council shall thereupon order and fix a day for holding a recall election. Any such election shall be held not less than forty nor more than sixty days after the petition has been presented to the Council, at the same time as any other general or special election held within such period but, if no such election be held within such period, the Council shall call a special election to be held within the time aforesaid.
(Effective November 9, 1931)
The question of recalling the Mayor and any number of members of the Council may be submitted at the same election, but as to each person whose removal is sought a separate petition shall be filed and provision shall be made for an entirely separate ballot.
(Effective November 9, 1931)
Ballots used at a recall election shall conform to the following requirements: With respect to the officer whose removal is sought the question shall be submitted, “Shall (name of person) be removed from the Council (or from the office of Mayor) by recall”. Immediately below such question there shall be printed on the ballots the two following propositions, one above the other, in the order here indicated:
“For the recall of (name of person).”
“Against the recall of (name of person).”
Immediately at the left of each proposition there shall be a square in which the elector by making a cross mark (X) may vote for either of such propositions.
(Effective November 9, 1931)
If a majority of the votes cast on the question of recalling a member of the Council or Mayor shall be against his recall he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, but subject to recall as before. If a majority of such votes be for the recall of the member indicated on the ballots he shall, regardless of any defect in the recall petition, be deemed removed from office. When a person is removed from office by recall, Council shall immediately provide for the nomination and election of his successor for the unexpired term by fixing the time of the elections. The nomination and election of a person to succeed a person so removed shall be held within one hundred and twenty days after the date of the recall election and shall be conducted in the same manner as provided for regular Municipal elections.
(Effective November 9, 1931)
If the Mayor or a member of the Council in regard to whom a recall petition is submitted to the Council shall resign within five days after notice thereof, the successor for the unexpired term shall be nominated and elected as hereinbefore provided and the recall election shall not be held.
(Effective November 9, 1931)
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