A preliminary election to nominate candidates for mayor, city
council, and school committee shall be held on the third Tuesday in
September in each odd-numbered year in which the candidates are to
be elected, but the city clerk may, with the approval of the city
council, reschedule the preliminary election to the second or fourth
Tuesday in September to avoid a conflict with any civil or religious
holiday. Whenever a special election to fill a vacancy is to be held,
a preliminary election shall be conducted, if necessary, 28 days before
the date established for the special election.
The regular city election shall be held on the first Tuesday
following the first Monday in November in each odd-numbered year.
The order in which names of candidates for each office appear
on the ballot shall be determined by a drawing, by lot, conducted
by the city clerk not later than 7 days after the certification of
the preliminary election results. In the event that there is no preliminary
election in advance of a special city election, the drawing shall
be conducted on the sixth Tuesday prior to the special city election.
The drawing shall be open to the public.
All elections for city offices shall be non-partisan and election
ballots shall be printed without any party mark, emblem or other political
designation.
The territory of the city shall be divided by the city clerk
into 9 wards to consist of nearly an equal number of inhabitants as
it is possible to achieve based on compact and contiguous territory,
bounded as far as possible by the center line of known streets or
ways or by other well-defined limits. Each ward shall be composed
of voting precincts established under the General Laws. The city council
shall review these wards to ensure uniformity in the number of inhabitants
at least once every 10 years.
Except as otherwise expressly provided in this charter and authorized
by law, all city elections shall be governed by the General Laws relating
to the right to vote, the registration of voters, the nomination of
candidates, voting places, the conduct of preliminary, regular and
special city elections, the submission of charters, charter amendments
and other propositions to the voters, the counting of votes, the recounting
of votes and the determination of results.