[Ord. No. 4457-16 §1, 1-20-2016 passed in election of 4-5-2016]
The regular election for the choice of Councilmen shall be held
annually on the general municipal election day as scheduled by State
law. The Council may, by Resolution, call and provide for special
elections. If for any reasons officers of the City fail to order and
conduct any election at the time specified in the Charter, any registered
voter may file a writ of mandamus in any court having jurisdiction
thereof to compel an election to be held.
Except as otherwise provided by this Charter, the provisions
of the general election laws of the State of Missouri and regulations
of the Board of Election Commissioners of St. Louis County shall apply
to elections held under this Charter. All elections for Councilmen
shall be nonpartisan and no party designation of any kind shall appear
on any ballot. The Council may adopt by Ordinance all regulations
which it considers desirable or necessary, consistent with law and
this Charter.
The City Clerk shall serve as Election Commissioner.
[Ord. No. 2141-89, 2-1-1989 passed in election of 4-4-1989; Ord. No. 4457-16 §1, 1-20-2016 passed in election of 4-5-2016]
Nominations of candidates for all elective offices shall be
by petition. No voter shall sign more than one nominating petition
for each office to be filled and should a voter do so, his signature
shall be void except as to the first filed petition signed by him.
Each signer of a petition shall designate his residential street and
number.
Nominating petitions for Ward Councilmen shall be signed by
not less than twenty-five (25) and no more than fifty (50) registered
voters who are entitled to vote for the candidates. Nominating petitions
for the Councilman at Large (Mayor) shall be signed by not less than
fifty (50) and no more than one hundred (100) registered voters.
The signatures to a nominating petition need not be appended
to one page, but all pages comprising the petition shall be uniform
in character, setting forth the election date, office to be filled,
name of candidate, a statement by the circulator that each signature
was made in his presence and is the genuine signature of the person
it purports to be. Each petition shall be accompanied by the candidate's
written acceptance of nomination.
Nominating petitions shall be on forms furnished by the City
Clerk and filed with the City Clerk during the filing period established
by State Statutes.
Within ten (10) days after the filing of a nominating petition
the City Clerk shall notify the candidate in writing as to whether
the petition is sufficient or not. If the petition is insufficient
the City Clerk shall return it to the candidate with a statement certifying
wherein the petition Is insufficient. Within the regular time for
filing petitions, a new or supplementary petition may be filed for
the same candidate. The petition for each candidate shall be preserved
by the City Clerk until the expiration of the term of office for which
he has been nominated.
No candidate shall file for more than one (1) municipal elective
office to be balloted at the same election.
Promptly after the closing date for filing nominating petitions,
the City Clerk shall give each candidate twenty-four (24) hours written
notice that he will thereafter, at a time and date certain, publicly
in his office draw lots to determine the order in which the names
of the candidates for the respective offices shall appear on the ballots.
He shall, after drawing such lots, certify such order of names of
candidates to the Board of Election Commissioners of St. Louis County.
[Ord. No. 2141-89, 2-1-1989 passed in election of 4-4-1989; Ord. No. 4457-16 §1, 1-20-2016 passed in election of 4-5-2016[1]]
Election returns and results of all elections shall be canvassed
by the Council at a meeting no later than ten (10) days following
certification of the election, and at the regular election the candidate
receiving the largest number of votes and at least forty (40) percent
of the votes cast for the office for which he is a candidate shall
be declared elected.
In the event that no candidate for an office of Councilman receives
forty (40) percent or more of the votes cast in the regular election,
or if two (2) candidates each receiving at least forty (40) percent
or more of the votes cast for the same office receive an equal number
of votes, then a run-off election shall be held between the two (2)
candidates receiving the highest number of votes cast. In the event
two (2) or more candidates in the regular election do not receive
forty (40) percent or more of the votes cast for the office for which
they are candidates, nor do they receive the highest number of votes
cast but they receive an equal number of votes, then the Council shall
decide between them by lot, without notice, at the meeting at which
the returns and results are canvassed, as to the candidate for the
run-off election against the candidate for the same office who received
the highest number of votes but less than forty (40) percent of the
total votes cast for the office. In the event that three (3) or more
candidates in the regular election receive an equal and highest number
of the votes for the office for which they are a candidate, then the
Council shall decide by lot as to the two (2) candidates for the run-off
election, without notice, at the meeting at which the returns and
results are canvassed.
The run-off election shall be held the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in June. The candidate in the said run-off election receiving
the highest number of votes cast shall be declared elected.
In the event that the candidates in a run-off election receive
an equal number of the votes cast for the same office, the election
for that office shall be determined as provided by State law.
[1]
Editor’s Note: Ord. No. 4457-16 also repealed Article
XI, Section 7, Voting Machines, which immediately followed.
