Get ready for one of the most confusing posts you will ever read. However, it's also probably one of the most important one's you'll ever read too. This post is going to explain the ballot for this year's election, and explain how the votes for different races are really counted.
To begin with, the four top races for the office of Mayor, City Treasurer, City Clerk, and Town Clerk are all the same. Like many would expect the candidate with the most votes of the two wins. It's simply by popular vote.
Now onto the somewhat confusing races. The Common Council at Large consists of seven elected members. There are six Democrats and seven Republicans running. The way this works is the top seven people that earn the most votes, of the total thirteen candidates, are elected. For example, all seven Republicans could win, or five Democrats could win and only two Republicans.
Okay, that's not that confusing, right? Well, it's only going to get more fun! When it comes to electing candidates for the Council by wards, many people get confused about who wins. As many know, each ward gets two Council members. Each party runs two candidates, for a total of four candidates. The top two candidates with the most votes win. Many believe that a ward has to elect both Republicans, or both Democrats, but that is not true. In fact, the first ward used to have one member from each party representing them. This doesn't happen often, but if you have two well known candidates running from opposite parties, that are well liked by the public then it is definitely possible. Currently, each ward has two Council members from the same party, but that could very well change this year.
The Board of Education can get very confusing, especially this year. Democrats hold a 6-5 majority, which they will still hold this year because they have three seats up for bid, and the Republicans also have three seats up. However, there is also one more seat up for grabs because of the death of a former Republican school board member. The Republican who filled the seat at the time, Richard Jannelli, is running for it this year. He will win automatically because the Democrats did not run anyone for that one seat. Like mentioned earlier, each party has three open seats. The Democrats chose to run just three candidates, and they will all win because they only have three spots to fill. The Republicans nominated six people (the most they can for the school board) to fill their three seats. So, actually the Republicans will be running against each other because the top three vote getter's of the six will win the three open seats. Just to note the Republicans can't try to earn the majority because each party has the same number of seats up for grabs. They had the chance in 2005 when each party was guaranteed two seats, and the fifth seat was up for grabs. Republicans could have won the seat by earning more votes than the Democrat, but they did not. This can only happen when a Republican Mayor is running for re-election.
The Zoning Commission elects nine people. The majority can only be a 5-4 member ratio, which Republicans currently have. The top four candidates of each party will win. The ninth seat is filled by comparing the Republican with the fifth highest votes to the Democrat with the fifth highest vote. Whoever has more votes, wins the seat, giving their party the majority. It is slightly similar to the Board of Education.
The Zoning Commission Alternates are also chosen like the regular Zoning members are. However, instead of nine members, there are only three. Each party definitely gets one person, and the third person is decided by putting the second highest candidate of each party's results up against each other. Whoever has more votes win the seats, and gives their party the majority.
Constables are also elected this way. There are five of them. The top two of each party win, and then head to head results are compared between the next closest candidate of each party. The one with more votes win, and gives their party the majority.
To wrap it up, though some candidates have their names placed above and below each other, they are technically not solely running against them. The only ones that do truly run against each other are the races for the top four offices.
Gee, it sure can get confusing, but it's very important information to know!
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4 comments:
There are only six democrats running. One dropped out.
Why does their website show seven?
Because they are complete dopes. They will run city hall like their website if they ever got into office. Bowen dropped out of an at-large spot. She didn't want to lose.
Zoning Commission can go 6 - 9.
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