[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of
the City of Lexington as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Administration and personnel — See Ch.
A.
[Adopted 2-23-1998 by Ord. No. 1998-3 (Ch.
2, Art. 1, of the 1998 Code)]
Whenever any candidate for elective office or
any otherwise qualified elector of the City of Lexington shall believe
an election for City officers, or any part thereof, is irregular in
any respect, he/she may contest the same in the manner provided herein
or under the laws of the State of Illinois, where applicable, should
they differ from these provisions.
The Mayor and City Council shall be the tribunal
before which such contest shall be heard, and their decision shall
be final.
When any person shall desire to contest an election,
or any part thereof, he/she shall, within 30 days after such election,
present to the City Clerk a written statement describing the nature
of the irregularity and the point on which he/she plans to contest
the same. Such written statement shall be verified by affidavit.
Upon filing such a statement, said contestant
shall serve a copy thereof upon the person whose election he/she intends
to contest, and in case he/she is absent or cannot be found, then
by leaving a copy of said statement at the usual place of residence
of such person whose election is so contested.
Whenever said statement shall have been filed,
and served as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Aldermen, upon
application of either party, to fix the time and place for taking
the depositions of the witnesses, when either party may proceed to
take the testimony of any witness, in the manner as provided for by
law in taking depositions to be used in actions at law or in equity,
before a notary public, at the time and place so fixed and continue
the same from day to day thereafter, until all the testimony shall
have been taken. Any person desiring to have a transcript of said
depositions shall employ and pay a court reporter to take same.
No testimony shall be taken or produced on the
hearing before the Aldermen except upon the points set forth in the
statement required to be filed with the City Clerk and served upon
the respondent.
When all the evidence shall have been taken,
as aforesaid, the same shall be forthwith filed in the office of the
City Clerk, who shall, without delay, lay the same before the Aldermen.
The Aldermen shall immediately refer the same to the appropriate committees
to investigate the report upon the same, which report shall be made
by the committee to the Aldermen not later than the next regular meeting
thereafter. Upon the report of such committee being made, the Aldermen
shall decide the same according to the rights of the matter, and shall
declare as elected the person, who shall appear by the evidence to
have been elected. The Aldermen may require all the testimony and
proof taken to be read in open meeting of the Aldermen.
Whenever it shall appear in any case that the
person receiving the highest number of votes is ineligible to the
office, by reason of any legal disability, it shall be the duty of
the trustees to declare such election to be null and void, and immediately
call a special election to fill the contested office.
In all cases of contested elections, either
party shall have the right to have the package or packages of ballots
which have been returned to the City Clerk, as required by law, opened
in the presence of the committee of the Aldermen and of the person
having custody thereof, and to have said ballots counted; or the same
may be brought in to be opened by the Aldermen and, then and there,
counted by a committee of three persons appointed for that purpose.
The City Clerk shall carefully preserve all
the ballots returned to him/her by the judge of any City election,
for six months thereafter, and at the expiration of that time he/she
shall destroy the same by burning, under the direction of the City
Aldermen; provided that if any contest of election shall be pending
at such time, in which such ballots may become material as evidence,
such ballots shall not be destroyed until such contest is finally
determined.
[Adopted 12-15-1982 by Ord. No. 1982-8 (Ch. 2, Art. 3, of the 1998 Code)]
All of the territory embraced within the corporation
limits of the City of Lexington shall be divided into three wards
as follows:
A. First ward: all that part of the City of Lexington
lying east of the center of Oak Street as currently existing, all
that part of the City of Lexington lying east of a line extended from
the northernmost point of the center of Oak Street north to an east-west
line extended from the northernmost point of the City of Lexington,
and all that part of the City of Lexington lying east of a line extended
south from the southernmost point of the center of Oak Street to an
east-west line extended from the southernmost point of the City of
Lexington shall constitute the First Ward in the City of Lexington.
B. Second ward: all that part of said City of Lexington
lying west of the First Ward and north of the center of Main Street
as currently existing in said City and all that part of said City
of Lexington lying west of the First Ward and north of a line extended
from the westernmost point of the center of Main Street west to a
north-south line extended from the westernmost point of the City of
Lexington shall constitute the Second Ward in the City of Lexington.
C. Third ward: all that part of said City of Lexington
lying south of the center of Main Street as currently existing and
not embraced within the limits of the First Ward as set forth hereinbefore
and all that part of said City of Lexington lying south of a line
extended from the westernmost point of the center of Main Street west
to a north-south line extended from the westernmost point of the City
of Lexington shall constitute the Third Ward in the City of Lexington.