Our Take: Sanford City Election Information

On Tuesday, August 30, 2016, the City of Sanford will hold a Regular Municipal Election in which the voters will elect a City Commissioner in District 3 and a City Commissioner in District 4.
Anyone interested in running for elected office in the City of Sanford, PLEASE contact the City Clerk at (407) 688-5012 during normal work hours Monday through Thursday, 7 am to 5:30 pm to make sure you are familiar with the steps required to run for office.

 2016 COMMISSION SEATS FOR ELECTION ARE:

District 3 – Commissioner Randy Jones, incumbent
          
District 4 – Commissioner Patty Mahany, incumbent         

COMMISSIONER COMPENSATION:  
                                                                            
Salary: $ 7,500                    

Expense:  $ 7,200
                    
Total Annual Compensation: $ 14,700

The period within which a candidate may qualify as above stated shall begin ninety-two (92) days prior to the election and shall terminate at 12:00 noon on the last regular working day for the City Clerk's office eighty-eight (88) days in advance of the election date. Qualification can be effected only during normal working hours for the City Clerk's office.

2016 Election Calendar of Important Dates

DATE                     ACTION
                                        
 May 16, 2016  Resign to Run deadline

 May 26, 2016  First day to qualify
                                  (7 am)

*Note: no qualifying on May 27th & May 30 due to Memorial Day.

 June 3, 2016    Last day to qualify
                           (closes at 12 noon)

August 30, 2016   General Election
                                        Day                
                                                   
Nov. 8, 2016      Run-Off Election
                                if necessary


The Herald says,

Caution:

92 days prior to the election is May 30. May 26 is 96 days prior, so trying to qualify on that date, is outside of the window as shown above. The clerk cannot accept papers outside the stated period of 92 days to 88 days. So the first day within that  period that is not a weekend or a holiday is Tuesday, May 31.

 It gets trickier, the eighty-eighth day is Friday, June 3. However, qualification can be effected only during normal working hours for the City Clerk's office. The Clerk’s office is not open on Friday! So the last day to qualify is Thursday, June 2. Got that?

We’re not finished with this yet.

Section 6.02(b) of the City’s charter reads as follows;

The period within which a candidate may qualify as above stated shall begin ninety-two (92) days prior to the election and shall terminate at 12:00 noon on the last regular working day for the City Clerk's office eighty-eight (88) days in advance of the election date. Qualification can be effected only during normal working hours for the City Clerk's office.

The last working day within the period is Thursday, June 2, since it states that it, “shall terminate at 12:00 noon on the last regular working day for the City Clerk’s office”, that means qualifying ends at noon on June 2.

Instead of four and a half days, a potential candidate only has two and a half to legally qualify. Anything outside of that can be challenged.

How did this happen?

In the past, City elections weren’t completely co-ordinated with national elections, so the 88-92 day window didn’t fall on Memorial Day weekend.

Most likely, before the next election, the City Attorney will be asked to draft a change to the city charter to address the situation.