For the purpose of holding elections, the territory of said
City shall be divided by ordinance by the City Council into five (5)
wards, to contain as near as may be consistently with well-defined
limits, an equal number of legal inhabitants; and it shall be the
duty of the City Council once in ten (10) years, and not oftener than
once in five (5) years, to review, and, if necessary, to alter such
wards in such a manner as to preserve, as nearly as may be, an equal
number of legal inhabitants in each ward.
[Amended 11-5-2019 by Order No. 2019-81; 8-2-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-69]
A. Officials and terms. The municipal elections shall take place on
the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and shall be
conducted in the manner provided by the laws of this state. The Mayor,
two (2) City Councilors and two (2) School Committee members shall
be elected from the citizens at large, by the legal voters of the
City voting in their respective wards. One (1) City Councilor and
one (1) School Committee member shall be elected in each ward, being
residents in the ward where elected. The City Council may divide any
ward into two (2) or more precincts.
All said officers shall hold office for three (3) years from
the first Monday in December, and until others shall be elected and
qualified in their places.
Wardens and Ward Clerks shall be appointed annually by the City
Council based upon the recommendation of the City Clerk.
B. Ranked choice voting; instant runoff tabulation. For the positions
of Mayor, City Councilor, and School Committee Member, the City Clerk
shall implement a ranked choice voting protocol according to these
guidelines:
i. The ballot shall give voters the option of ranking candidates in
order of choice.
ii. If a candidate receives a majority, i.e. at least one more than fifty
percent (50%) of the first choice votes cast, that candidate is elected.
iii.
If no candidate receives a majority of first choice votes, an
instant runoff re-tabulation shall be promptly conducted by the City
Clerk and completed within five (5) business days of the election.
The instant runoff re-tabulation shall be conducted in successive
rounds, with the majority determined for each successive round by
the number of votes cast in that round. The candidate with the fewest
votes after each successive round in which no candidate receives a
majority of the votes cast in that round shall be eliminated, and
the votes in the successive rounds shall be re-tabulated among the
remaining candidates until one candidate receives a majority of the
votes cast in that round. In each successive round, each voter's
ballot shall count as a single vote for whichever candidate the voter
has ranked highest who has not been eliminated in a prior round, if
any.
iv. After the first round, a majority is determined as at least one (1)
more than fifty percent (50%) of the votes cast for a remaining candidate
in a particular round.
v. The City Clerk may adopt additional regulations consistent with this
subsection to implement these provisions. The ballot shall contain
instructions on how to vote for each office.
[Amended 11-5-2019 by Order No. 2019-81]
At the November 2013 municipal election, the Mayor, one (1)
City Councilor At-Large, the Ward 1 City Councilor, the Ward 2 City
Councilor, the Ward 5 City Councilor and Wardens and Ward Clerks for
each Ward shall be elected to hold office for three (3) years; the
person elected to the seat of the School Committee member At-Large
whose four-year term is ending shall be elected to hold office for
three (3) years, and one (1) City Councilor At-Large shall be elected
to hold office for two (2) years; the Ward 3 School Committee member
shall be elected to hold office for three (3) years and the Ward 3
City Councilor shall be elected to hold office for two (2) years;
the Ward 4 School Committee Member shall be elected to hold office
for three (3) years and the Ward 4 City Councilor shall be elected
to hold office for two (2) years. All remaining School Committee members
shall commence three year terms with the November 2015 municipal election.
As of January 1, 2023, Wardens and Ward Clerks shall be appointed in accordance with the provisions outlined in Section
6.2.
A vacancy occurring in the office of warden or ward clerk by
death, resignation or removal from the City shall be filled by appointment
of the City Clerk, subject to confirmation by a majority of the City
Council members present and voting.
[Amended 8-2-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-69]
Whenever two (2) or more persons are to be elected to the same
office, the several persons up to the number to be chosen, shall be
elected by proportional representation. The City Clerk shall implement
a proportional representation voting protocol according to these guidelines:
(a) The total number of ballots indicating a valid vote for a candidate
shall be determined prior to counting of ballots for individual candidates.
(b) Each candidate shall be credited with one vote for every valid ballot
that is sorted to that candidate as first choice, or otherwise credited
to that candidate as hereinafter provided, and no ballot shall ever
be credited to more than one candidate at the same time.
(c) A "quota" is the smallest number of votes which any candidate must
receive in order to be assured of election without more candidates
being elected than there are offices to be filled. It shall be determined
by dividing the total number of valid ballots by one more than the
total number of candidates to be elected and adding one to the result,
disregarding fractions. Whenever at any stage of the counting the
number of ballots credited to a candidate becomes equal to the quota,
that candidate shall be declared elected, and no ballots in excess
of the quota shall be credited to that candidate except as provided
in (f) or (l) of this section.
(d) The ballots shall be sorted according to the first choices marked
on them.
(e) If a candidate is elected while the ballots are being sorted according
to first choices, any subsequent ballots which show that candidate
as first choice shall each be credited to the second choice marked
on it, or, if the second choice also has been elected, to the next
choice marked on it for a candidate not yet elected.
(f) If during the first sorting of ballots, ballots are found which are
marked for a candidate already elected as first choice, but show no
clear choice for any unelected candidate, such ballots shall at the
end of the sorting be given to the candidate of their first choice,
and in their place an equal number, as nearly as possible, of the
last ballots sorted to that candidate which show a clear choice for
unelected candidates, all as determined by the City Clerk, shall be
taken and re-sorted to unelected candidates as if they were then being
sorted for the first time.
(g) When all the ballots have been thus sorted and credited to the first
available choices marked on them, every candidate who is credited
with fewer ballots than the number of signatures required for that
candidate's nomination shall be declared defeated.
(h) All the ballots of the candidates thus defeated shall be transferred,
each to the candidate indicated on it as next choice among the continuing
candidates. A "continuing candidate" is a candidate not as yet either
elected or defeated. Any ballot taken for transfer which does not
clearly indicate any candidate as next choice among the continuing
candidates shall be set aside as "exhausted."
(i) When all the ballots of the candidates thus defeated have been transferred,
the one candidate who is then lowest on the poll shall be declared
defeated and all that candidate's ballots transferred in the
same way.
(j) Thereupon the candidate who is then lowest shall be declared defeated
and all that candidate's ballots similarly transferred; and in
like manner candidates shall be declared defeated one at a time and
all their ballots transferred.
(k) If, when a candidate is to be declared defeated, two or more candidates
are tied at the bottom of the poll, that one of the tied candidates
shall be declared defeated who was credited with fewest ballots immediately
prior to the last transfer of ballots. If two or more of the tied
candidates were tied at that stage of the count, also, the second
tie shall be decided by referring similarly to the standing of candidates
immediately prior to the last transfer of ballots before that. This
principle shall be applied successively as many times as may be necessary,
a tie shown at any stage of the count being decided by referring to
the standing of the tied candidates immediately prior to the last
preceding transfer of ballots. In interpreting this and other rules
contained in this section the transfer of all ballots from candidates
defeated together under rule (g) of this section, and the transfer
of all ballots from each candidate defeated thereafter shall each
constitute a single separate transfer.
(l) Whenever candidates to the number to be elected have received the
quota, any transfer of ballots in progress when the last quota was
reached shall be completed, but immediately thereafter all continuing
candidates shall be declared defeated and the election shall be at
an end. Whenever all ballots of all defeated candidates have been
transferred, and it is impossible to defeat another candidate without
reducing the continuing candidates below the number still to be elected,
all the continuing candidates shall be declared elected and the election
shall be at an end.
(m) A record of the count shall be kept in such form as to show, after
each sorting or transfer of ballots, the number thereby credited to
each candidate, the number thereby set aside as exhausted, the total
for each candidate, the total set aside as exhausted, and the total
number of valid ballots found by adding the totals of all candidates
and the total set aside as exhausted.
(n) Every ballot that is transferred from one candidate to another shall
be stamped or marked so that its entire course from candidate to candidate
can be conveniently traced.
(o) If at any time after the first sorting of the ballots a ballot is
found to have been credited to the wrong candidate, it may be transferred,
as part of the transfer that is in progress, to the continuing candidate,
if any, to whom it should have been credited at the time the error
was made, or, if it should previously have become exhausted, may be
set aside as exhausted as part of the transfer that is in progress;
provided, that if the number of misplaced ballots found is sufficient
to make it possible that any candidate has been wrongly defeated,
so much of the sorting and transferring as may be required to correct
the error shall be done over again before the count proceeds. If in
correcting an error any ballots are re-sorted or re-transferred, every
ballot shall be made to take the same course that it took in the original
count unless the correction of an error requires its taking a different
course. The principles of the rules of this section shall apply also
to any recount which may be made after the original count has been
completed.
If it shall appear that there is no choice of Mayor, or any
of the other officers to be elected from the citizens at large, or
from any of the several wards, or if the person elected Mayor, or
any person or persons elected to any other of the offices aforesaid,
shall refuse to accept the office, or shall die before qualifying,
or if a vacancy in the office of Mayor shall occur subsequently and
more than three (3) months previous to the expiration of the municipal
year, warrant shall forthwith be issued for a new election, and the
same proceedings shall be had in all respects as hereinbefore provided,
and shall be repeated until such election is completed.
A vacancy occurring in the City Council by death, resignation
or removal from the City of any member thereof, shall be filled for
the unexpired term by a majority vote of the remaining members present
and voting, voting by roll call; and if such vacancy be occasioned
by the death, resignation or removal from the City of a member elected
by a ward, the same shall be filled from the ward where it occurs.
A vacancy occurring in the School Committee by death, resignation
or removal from the city, of any member thereof, shall be filled for
the unexpired term by a majority vote of the remaining members present
and voting, from the ward where it occurs, or if at large from any
ward.
Special municipal elections may be held from time to time for
municipal purposes when called by the Mayor and City Councilors; and
the City Council shall establish by ordinance an initiative and referendum
procedure to be ratified by a plurality vote of the voters of said
City according to the rights secured to all citizens by the state
constitution. Any subsequent amendments or revisions of the initiative
and referendum ordinance shall require the same ratification by the
voters as required for the adoption of said ordinance.
The Mayor-elect, City Councilors-elect and School Committee
Members-elect shall on the first Monday of December, meet and be sworn
to the faithful discharge of their duties. The oath shall be administered
by the City Clerk or any notary public or dedimus justice, and shall
be duly certified on the journal of the City Council.
In case of the absence of the Mayor-elect or if a Mayor shall
not then have been elected, the oath of office may at any time thereafter
be administered to the Mayor-elect in the presence of the City Council;
and at any time thereafter, in a like manner, the oath of the office
may be administered to any member of the City Council or School Committee
member who has been previously absent, or has been subsequently elected;
and every such oath shall be duly certified as aforesaid.
After the oath has been administered to the City Councilors
present, they shall be called to order, at their first organization
by the City Clerk, or in case of the absence of the Clerk, by the
longest-serving member present.
The person so calling the City Council to order shall proceed
to call the roll of the members and each member shall declare their
choice for President of the City Council, who shall be a member thereof.
If no quorum is present, an adjournment shall be taken to a later
hour, or to the next day, and thereafter the same proceedings shall
be had from day to day, until a quorum shall be present. If any person
receives a majority of the votes of all the members of the City Council
present, such person shall be declared chosen President thereof. If,
on the first day on which a quorum is present no person receives such
majority, the roll call shall be repeated until some person receives
the vote of such majority, or an adjournment is taken to the succeeding
day, and on such succeeding day when a quorum is present, a plurality
of those voting shall be sufficient for an election.
The President may be removed from the office by the affirmative
vote of five (5) members of the City Council taken by roll call.