All residents of the City of New Buffalo having the qualification
of electors in the State of Michigan shall be electors of the City.
The election of all City officers shall be on a non-partisan
basis. General election statutes shall apply to and control, as near
as may be, all procedures relating to registrations and City elections
except as such statutes relate to political parties or partisan procedures,
and except as otherwise provided in this Charter.
The City of New Buffalo shall consist of one ward and one voting
precinct. The Council may by ordinance increase the number of election
precincts but shall make no change less than 60 days before any election.
A regular City election shall be held on the second Monday of
March, 1966, and on the second Monday of March of every year thereafter, at such place or places as shall be designated by the
Council.
Special City elections shall be held when called by resolution
of the Council at least 45 days in advance of such election, or when
required by this Charter or the general laws of the state. Any resolutions
calling a Special Election shall set forth the purpose of such election.
The general election laws of the State of Michigan shall apply
to and control all procedures relating to registration and City elections
except as herein otherwise specifically provided.
An Election Commission is hereby created consisting of the Clerk,
the Assessor and the City Attorney of which the Clerk shall be Chairman.
The Commission shall have charge of all activities and duties required
by State Law and this Charter relating to the conduct of elections
in the City. In any case where election procedure is in doubt, the
Election Commission shall prescribe the procedure to be followed.
The compensation of the Commissioners shall be determined in advance
by the Council and shall be a fixed amount for each election.
Notice of the time and place of holding any election and of
the officers to be elected and the questions to be voted upon, shall
be given by the Clerk as required by the general election law.
The polls of all elections shall be opened and closed at the
time prescribed by law for the opening and closing of polls at State
elections unless otherwise permitted by law and changed by the Council.
The method of nomination of all officers provided for in this
Charter who are elected by the electors of the City shall be by petition.
Petitions shall be signed by not less than 25 nor more than 50 qualified
registered electors of the City of New Buffalo. No person shall sign
his name to a greater number of petitions for any one office than
there will be persons elected to said office at said election. Where
any signature appears on more petitions than there are candidates
to be elected to said office, such names shall be counted only in
the order of the respective dates of signing as shown on the petition.
The petitions shall be filed with the Clerk at least 20 days and not
more than 30 days prior to the date of holding the election. The Clerk shall publish notice of the last day permitted
for filing nomination petitions, at least one week before, and no
more than three weeks before, such day.
The form of petition shall be similar to that used for State
and County officers with no references to political parties. Official
petition forms shall be prepared and furnished by the Clerk. Before
the Clerk shall furnish any nomination petitions to any person, he
shall enter thereon in ink the name of the person desiring to become
a candidate for office, or the person in whose behalf the petition
is to be circulated and the name of the office for which he is to
be a candidate.
The Clerk shall accept for filing only nomination petitions
on official blanks containing the required number of signatures for
candidates having the qualifications required by this Charter. When
petitions are filed by persons other than the person whose name appears
thereon as a candidate, they may be accepted for filing only when
accompanied by the written consent of the person in whose behalf the
petition or petitions were circulated. The Clerk shall, forthwith
after the filing of a petition, determine the sufficiency of the signature
on each petition filed, and if he finds that any petition does not
contain the required number of legal signatures of registered electors,
he shall immediately notify the candidate in writing of the insufficiency
of his petition. Each petition which is found by the Clerk to contain
the required number of signatures of registered electors for candidates
shall be marked "In Order," with the date thereof, and he shall so
notify the candidate whose name appears thereon, in writing.
All nomination petitions shall be open to public inspection
in the office of the Clerk as soon as the Clerk has determined the
sufficiency or insufficiency of the petitions.
The form of the ballot used in any City election shall conform
as nearly as may be to that prescribed by the general laws of the
State, except that no party designation or emblem shall appear upon
any City ballot. The names of qualified candidates or nominees for
each office shall be listed in a single column and shall be rotated
systematically on the ballots. In all other respects the printing
and numbering of ballots shall conform to the general laws of the
state relating to elections.
A board of four canvassers shall be appointed by the Council
pursuant to Act No. 65 (Extra Session) of the Public Acts of 1963.
The Board of Canvassers shall convene on the first Thursday following
each election at the office of the City Clerk and publicly canvass
the returns. The Clerk shall make under seal of the City duplicate
certificates of the determination of the Board and shall file one
certificate with the Clerk of Berrien County and the other in his
own office.
If at any City election there shall be no choice between candidates
because two or more persons received an equal number of votes, the
Election Commission shall name a date for the appearance of such persons
for the purpose of determining the election of one of them by lot.
Should any person fail or refuse to appear, in person or by representative,
to determine the result of any tie at the time and place named, such
determination shall be made by lot in his absence, at the direction
and under the supervision of the Election Commission. Such determination
shall be final.
A recount of the votes cast at any City election for any office
or upon any proposition may be had in accordance with the general
election laws of the State. Unless otherwise provided by statute the
petition for a recount of the votes cast at any City election shall
be filed with the Clerk within six days after the Board of Canvassers
has made its official report of the result of the election at which
such votes were cast, and any counter petition shall be filed within
24 hours thereafter.
Any elected official may be removed from office by the electors
of the City in a manner provided by the general laws of the State.
A vacancy created by the recall of any elected official shall be filled
in the manner prescribed by law.