The regular general city election shall be held on the first
Tuesday following the first Monday in November in each odd numbered
year.
On the seventh Tuesday preceding every regular general city
election there shall be a preliminary election for the purpose of
nominating candidates.
All elections for city offices shall be non-partisan and election
ballots shall be printed without any party mark, emblem, or other
designation whatsoever.
The order in which names of candidates appear on the ballot
for each office shall be determined by a drawing, by lot, conducted
by the board of election commissioners which shall be open to the
public.
The territory of the city shall be divided into four districts
so established as to consist of compact and contiguous territory,
bounded insofar as possible by the center line of known streets or
ways or by other well defined limits. Each such district shall be
composed of voting precincts otherwise established in accordance with
general laws. The city council shall from time to time review such districts
to insure their uniformity in number of inhabitants.
Except as expressly provided in this charter and authorized
by law, all city elections shall be governed by the laws of the commonwealth
relating to the right to vote, the registration of voters, the nomination
of candidates, the conduct of preliminary, general and special 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.
The city council or the school committee shall hold a public
hearing and act with respect to every citizen petition which is addressed
to it, which petition shall not be required to take any particular
form, and is signed by one-hundred-fifty voters, or more, and which
seeks the passage of a measure concerning matters other than action
under section 7-11(c). The hearing shall be held by the city council
or the school committee, and the action by the city council or the
school committee shall be taken not later than three months after
the petition is filed with the clerk of the council or the secretary
of the school committee, as may be appropriate. Hearings on two or
more petitions filed under this section may be held at the same time
and place. The clerk of the council or the secretary of the school
committee shall mail notice of the hearing to the ten persons whose
names appear first on the petition at least forty-eight hours before
the hearing. Notice, by publication, of all such hearings shall be
at public expense.
None of the following shall be subject to the initiative or
the referendum procedures: (1) proceedings relating to the internal
organization or operation of the city council or of the school committee,
(2) an emergency measure adopted in conformity with the charter, (3)
the city budget or the school committee budget as a whole, (4) revenue
loan orders, (5) any appropriation for the payment of the city's debt
or debt service, (6) an appropriation of funds to implement a collective
bargaining agreement, (7) proceedings relating to the election, appointment,
removal, discharge, employment, promotion, transfer, demotion, or
other personnel action, (8) any proceedings repealing or rescinding
a measure or part thereof which is protested by referendum procedures,
and (9) any proceedings providing for the submission or referral of
any measure to the voters at an election.
The city council may of its own motion, and shall, at the request
of the school committee, if a measure originates with that body and
pertains to affairs under its jurisdiction, submit to the voters at
any regular city election for adoption or rejection any measure in
the same manner and with the same force and effect as are hereby provided
for submission by petitions of voters.
If two or more measures passed at the same election contain
conflicting provisions, only the one receiving the greatest number
of affirmative votes shall take effect.