Basic process of the at-large city council race

[mjkuhns]

I run into questions about this often, so it seems worth posting here at least once.

As established in the city charter, mostly Article XIX Section 2…

Lakewood has three at-large city council members. These members are elected by the city as a whole. All at-large members serve concurrent four-year terms; every at-large seat comes up for election in the same year. This is the year for that. (The mayor, and four ward representatives on council, are elected in other odd-numbered years, e.g. 2019.)

Our local races are officially nonpartisan, and up to six at-large candidates will appear in a common candidate pool on November's ballot. Voters may vote for up to three. The first-, second- and third-place finishers in vote count are elected.

If more than six candidates file valid signatures and other paperwork with the Board of Elections by the deadline (some time later this month, I think), then there is a primary on the second Tuesday in September. The top six candidates in that primary are then advanced to the general election.

The most recent candidate list from the Board of Elections (page 37) shows six candidates who have pulled or completed petitions. This includes all incumbents and declared new candidates. It is possible to take out petitions anonymously; if anyone has seen a petition for a candidate not on that list, you have quite a potential scoop. But otherwise, at present it looks like voting in the at-large race will just be November's general election.

Hope this is some help.

[Lori Allen _]

I'm sure Mr. Bullock will turn in his paperwork at the last minute, much to our chagrin.

I'm sure he cares more about himself, than we do, a legend in his own mind.

I believe his intention is to eventually run for a state office. I wonder if he ever has thought about the alleged trail of corruption that will follow him.

Good luck Tom. I'm sure your going to need it!

[Michael Deneen]

I'm curious to see if at least one more enters the fray.
That would trigger the primary election, which would spice things up a tad.
Although the "top 4" are pretty safe to get through the primary, I wouldn't be surprised if there is jockeying for the #1 vote getter slot.
In previous at-large elections the "#1 seed" was a selling point in the general election.

Back in the day, I jokingly referred to my roommate as "Leading Democratic Primary Vote Getter Bryan Flannery" because for six weeks that was on every piece of campaign lit we distributed.
I remember a similar competition in the late 90s/early 2000s....I believe it was Fitzy and Skindell fighting for the top spot.
In both of those elections, the leading primary vote getter was NOT the leading vote getter in the general.