Sorry, I was mixing up my months in my earlier message. The
corrected version appears below. Thanks to David Brauer for catching the
mistakes.
BRM
-----Original Message-----
From: Melendez, Brian
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 1:56 PM
To: 'David Brauer'; 'Mpls list'
Subject: [Mpls] Biernat replacements + scheduling
David Brauer asks, "1. The general election needs to be within 75
days - looks like Feb. 3 is 72 days away from 11/21, and a Monday. Why not
make it a Tuesday, the traditional day of the week for election day? 2.
(This might answer #1). What's the window for primaries? Was there
any way to make the primary before Christmas or after New Year's? This does
not look like optimum scheduling to me, but I would like to
know more about the scheduling factors."
[BRM] The City Charter (ch. 2, sec. 16) says that "the special
election shall be held within seventy-five (75) days after such vacancy
shall occur. For the purpose of selecting the candidates to be voted on at
such special election, the Council shall fix the date of a primary election
to be held not less than thirty-five (35) days prior to such special
election, and shall also fix the dates for filing of candidates for such
office which shall be for a period of not less than eight (8) days, and the
closing date for such filing shall not be less than twenty (20) days prior
to the date fixed for the primary election." If the vacancy occurred on
Friday 22 November, then the latest possible date for the election is
Thursday 6 February--which makes the preceding Tuesday, 4 February, the
logical candidate as "the traditional day of the week for election day."
But if the election is held on Tuesday 4 February, then the latest
possible date for the primary election is 35 days earlier--Tuesday 31
December, New Year's Eve. I am guessing that the City Council scheduled the
election on a Monday in order to avoid scheduling a primary on New Year's
Eve.
The other viable option would have been holding the election on
Thursday 6 February and the primary on Thursday 2 January. This option
assumes that the vacancy occurred on Friday 22 November. But if former CM
Biernat resigned late in the day on Thursday 21 November, then the latest
possible date for the election is Wednesday 5 February, in which case Monday
3 February is the date that allows the latest possible election and the
latest possible primary without holding the primary on New Year's Day or New
Year's Eve.
BRM
Brian Melendez
Downtown (work)
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