title
2012 ELECTION QUALIFYING DATES (B)
Ordinance No. 110309
An ordinance of the City of Gainesville, Florida, setting the dates for qualifying for the 2012 regular election; providing a severability clause; providing a preemption clause; and providing an immediate effective date.
recommendation
The City Commission adopt the proposed ordinance.
explanation
The City Commission, at its meeting of September 15, 2011, authorized the City Attorney's Office to draft an ordinance setting the qualifying dates for the 2012 City Commission regular election.
On June 16, 2011, the City Commission adopted an ordinance setting the 2012 City Commission regular election date for January 31, 2012, the date currently set for the presidential preference primary. Florida law permits a municipality to move the date of any municipal election to a date concurrent with a state or federal election notwithstanding any charter or ordinance provisions to the contrary. The statute requires, however, that the names to appear on the ballot in the presidential preference primary will be furnished to the Supervisor of Elections offices "no later than the third Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the year preceding the presidential preference primary". The Supervisor of Elections notified the City that she will need the names no later than November 22, 2011. For this reason, the qualifying dates will need to be set as described above.