All residents of the City of Midlothian who shall have qualified to vote in accordance with the provisions of the Texas Election Code shall have the right to vote in all City elections.
No primary election shall be held in the selection of nominees to the City Council unless specifically required by State Law. Regular elections for the purpose of electing members of the City Council shall be held on the first Saturday in April of each year, or as otherwise may be prescribed by State Law.
Editor’s note–The regular election day adopted by Ordinance 89-04 is the first Saturday in May and the runoff election day is the third Saturday in May pursuant to V.T.C.A., Election Code sec. 41.001.
All qualified voters of the City shall be entitled to vote for the candidate for Mayor and for one (1) candidate for Place Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, as may be listed on the official ballot of the City.
A person desiring to become a candidate for Mayor or for any place on the City Council shall be entitled to have his name placed on the official ballot if he files with the City Secretary, not less than thirty (30) days nor more than sixty (60) days prior to the election, a sworn application verifying his qualifications as provided in Section 2.03 of this Charter and stating that he is a candidate for Mayor or the Place Number for which he is running, as the case may be.
The Mayor shall be designated on the official ballot as “Mayor.” The Places on the official ballot shall be designated as “Member of Council, Place No. ,” designating the Place Numbers, such to be in numerical order, and the candidate’s name shall appear in the Place for which he filed his application. The City Secretary shall make up the official ballot from the names so presented to him in the manner hereinabove set out. The order in which the names of the candidates for each Place shall appear on the ballot shall be determined by lot in a drawing held under the supervision of the City Secretary.
Within thirty (30) days following either a regular or special election, the City Council shall convene in a meeting in the Council chambers and canvass and certify the results of such election.
A candidate in said election receiving a majority of the votes cast for the position of Mayor and for the position of Councilman for the Place for which he is a candidate, as the case may be, shall be declared elected. If none of the candidates for such position receives a majority vote, then none of the candidates for that office shall be elected and a run-off election shall be held among the two (2) candidates who receive the greatest number of votes for such position. In the event of a run-off, the City Council shall immediately order a run-off election, which shall be held not less than twenty (20) nor more than thirty (30) days after the canvass of the election in which a run-off is required. Notice of such run-off election shall be given and the election shall be held in the same manner as the general or special election in which the run-off occurred. At such election, only the names of the two candidates who received the greatest number of votes for such position shall be printed on the ballot and any write-in votes cast for any other person shall be void and shall not be counted for any purpose.
On the first Saturday in April, 1981, an election shall be held to elect the Mayor and all Councilmen. The person elected as Mayor and the persons elected to represent Places 1 and 2 shall serve for a term of three (3) years, their terms expiring in April, 1984. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 2.01, the persons elected to represent Places 3 and 4 shall serve for a term of two (2) years, their terms expiring in April, 1983, and the persons elected to represent Places 5 and 6 shall serve for a term of one (1) year, their terms expiring in April, 1982. Beginning in April, 1982, all Council Members shall be elected for a term of three (3) years.