<div>As most of you know there was an amendment to the Charter introduced<br><span>at a Legislative Session on Monday evening regarding the timing of any<br>runoff election that may be required following the Ward One Special
<br>Election. In order to clarify the situation, I am breaking my habit<br>of staying off of the town's email lists.<br><br></span><span></span>It is important to note that the amendment will have no effect unless<br>we have a runoff election, and that it affects only the date of the
<br>runoff election.<br><span><br>The Charter requires that any elected official must receive a majority<br>of the vote in an election (50%+ 1). A Special Election is no<br>exception. This is usually not an issue since there are rarely more
<br></span>than 2 candidates for an office. In the current election, there are<br>only two candidates with names on the ballot because only two persons<br>completed a ballot petition.<br><span><br>However, there is a third candidate who, while not on the ballot, is
<br></span>running a write-in campaign, and therefore there is a possibility that<br><span>no candidate will get a majority vote on December 10. If this<br>happens, the law requires a runoff, and as the charter is currently
<br></span>written there is no provision for us to hold such an election earlier<br>than the 4th Monday in May.<br><span><br>I asked our town attorney, Fred Sussman, to look for any legal<br>alternatives under the Charter as it currently exists. His strong
<br></span><span></span>opinion is that there is currently no legal method to hold a runoff on<br>any date other than the 4th of May. We must amend the Charter to do<br><span>anything earlier.<br><br>Clearly we do not want to risk having the Ward One seat sit vacant for
<br>6 months. Therefore, an Amendment was introduced that will allow the<br></span>council to choose a runoff date between 21 and 30 days after the<br><span>initial election. If the council passes the amendment at next Monday
<br>night's Legislative Meeting, the new amendment will take effect in<br>mid-January and the runoff will take place in February. Not an ideal<br>situation, but clearly better than May.</span></div>
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<div><span>I hope this clears up any questions you may have on this matter.</span></div>
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<div><span>Best wishes,</span></div>
<div><span></span> </div>
<div><span>Vernon Archer, Mayor </span></div>
<div><span>Riverdale Park</span></div>
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