CHARTER ARTICLE III. ELECTIONS

A municipal election shall be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November, 1982 and biennially thereafter. All such elections shall be known as general municipal elections, and shall be held on the same date as the regularly occurring statewide California general elections held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November of even numbered years. The City Council shall take the necessary actions to consolidate general municipal elections with statewide California general elections. All other municipal elections that may be held shall be known as special municipal elections.

No special municipal election shall be held in the City, except as provided for in this section:

(a) A special municipal election may be held in accordance with the Recall provisions of Article IV of this Charter; provided, however, that if the provisions of Article IV would require such election to be held between the 10th day of June and the 10th day of October, then such election shall be held on the following first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

(b) A special municipal election may be held to fill any vacancy in accordance with Article V, Section 12 of this Charter; provided however, if the provisions of Article V, Section 12 would require such election to be held between the 10th day of June and the 10th day of October, then such election shall be held on the following first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

(c) A special municipal election, other than those provided for in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, may be held upon a determination, by a vote of two-thirds of the Council, that an urgent necessity exists therefor.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 4, there shall be a Rent Stabilization Board Election as provided in Section 122 of Article XVII.

Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, all elections shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the Elections Code of the State of California, as the same now exist or may hereafter be amended, for the holding of elections in general law cities.

All notices and other matters which are now or may hereafter be required to be published by the Elections Code, may be publicized in the manner determined by the Council.

The City Council shall meet at its usual place of meeting as soon as practicable after the election, including any runoff election, to receive the certification of results prepared by the City Clerk. The City Clerk shall canvass the results of the election in accordance with procedures established in the State of California Elections Code. The persons having the number of votes required by this Charter for each elective office shall be declared elected.

If the use of voting machines, voting devices or vote tabulating devices at a municipal election is authorized by the City Council, any of the provisions of this Section 5 may be modified by the City Council to the extent necessary to permit the use of such voting machines, voting devices or vote tabulating devices.

For purposes of this charter “instant runoff voting” shall refer to a voting system which, in a single election, determines the candidate supported by the voters. Notwithstanding any section of this Charter to the contrary, upon a determination by the City Council of all of the following, that: a) the voting equipment and procedures are technically ready to handle instant runoff voting in municipal elections; b) instant runoff voting will not preclude the City from consolidating its municipal elections with the County; and c) instant runoff elections will not result in additional City election costs, the Council may by ordinance establish a system of instant runoff voting for the offices of Mayor, City Council, and Auditor in any manner permitted by the State of California Elections Code. Once the Council institutes a system of instant runoff voting, future elections shall be conducted as instant runoff voting elections, unless the Council finds that circumstances have changed such that one or more of the prior Council findings required by this section are no longer valid. In such case, the Council shall articulate the specific basis therefore in order to suspend an existing system of instant runoff voting. The fourteenth paragraph of Section 9 of Article V relating to the percentage threshold to trigger a runoff election shall have no application to a system of instant runoff voting. The City Clerk shall conduct voter and community education to familiarize voters with instant runoff voting.

Whenever a candidate whose name appears upon the ballot at a general municipal election dies before the time of the closing of the polls on the day of election, the votes cast for such deceased candidate shall be counted in determining the results of the election for the office for which the decedent was a candidate. If the deceased candidate receives the highest number of the votes cast for the office, or if more than one is to be elected to such office and the deceased candidate receives sufficient votes to be one of those elected for such office, he or she shall be considered elected and the office to which he or she was elected shall be vacant at the beginning of the term for which he or she was elected. The vacancy thus created shall be filled in the same manner as if the candidate had died subsequent to taking office for that term.

Section 61/2. Nomination - Filing Fee - Candidate's Statement of Qualifications.

Candidates for council office shall be nominated by registered voters from the council district for which they nominate the council candidate, as further provided in the State of California Elections Code.

At the time of filing his or her nomination papers, each candidate for the office of mayor, councilmember, auditor, rent stabilization board commissioner, and school board director shall pay a filing fee, in the amount of $150. The filing fee may be offset in whole or in part by the submission of up to 150 signatures of registered voters in the City. Each signature of a registered voter shall offset $1 of the filing fee. Any such required submission of signatures, in lieu of filing fees, shall be in addition to the signatures otherwise required by the State of California Election Code to nominate a candidate, but may be of voters registered anywhere in the City.

At the time of filing his or her nomination papers, each candidate for an elective office may file with the City Clerk a verified statement showing the name of the candidate, the office for which he or she is a candidate, his or her place of residence, place of birth, present occupation, what public offices he or she has held, whether he or she is a taxpayer in the City of Berkeley, a statement giving information as to his or her experience and qualifications, and a recent photograph, to the end that the electors may be in a position to estimate his or her fitness to fill the office, and the names of not less than five or more than twenty residents of the City of Berkeley to whom he or she refers. Until otherwise provided by ordinance, such statements shall not exceed two hundred words in length. At the time of filing said statement, each candidate shall also pay to the City Clerk a printing fee which, until otherwise provided by ordinance, shall be the sum of $35.00. The City Clerk shall cause said candidates' statements to be printed in some convenient form and shall mail a copy of said statements to each registered voter with the sample ballot, provided that no name to which the candidate refers shall be included in the publication by the Clerk unless the written consent of the person named is filed with the City Clerk. The provisions of this section are self-executing, but the City Council, by ordinance, may more definitely prescribe the form of said candidate's statement. The printing fees so collected by the City Clerk shall be paid into the City Treasury, and the expense of printing said candidates' statements shall be paid from the City Treasury. No refund from printing fees shall be made to candidates, nor shall any extra charge be made, regardless of whether the printing expense is more or less than the amount of the fees received.

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City Clerk Department
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, California 94704
Telephone (510) 981-6900; TDD (510) 981-6903; Fax (510) 981-6901
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
E-mail: clerk@ci.berkeley.ca.us

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