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 Lawrence
 Code of Ordinances
 THE CHARTER

  § 8. Nominations and elections.  

Latest version.

  • 8.1 City Elections: General and Preliminary.

    The regular city election shall be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November in each odd-numbered year.

    On the sixth Tuesday preceding every regular city election, there shall be held a preliminary election for the purpose of nominating candidates.

    8.2 Nonpartisan Elections.

    All elections of city officers shall be nonpartisan, and election ballots for such offices shall be printed without any party mark, emblem, or designation whatsoever.

    8.3 Preliminary Elections.

    (a)

    Signature Requirements. The number of signatures of voters required to place the name of a candidate on the official ballot to be used at a preliminary election shall be as follows: for the office of the mayor not less than two hundred fifty; for the office of councilor at large not less than one hundred; and for the office of district councilor or school committee member not less than fifty signatures of voters of the district from which the candidate seeks to be nominated. In no case shall a person collect signatures to be a candidate for more than one city office.

    (b)

    Ballot Position. The order in which names of candidates appear on the ballot, for each municipal office, shall be as follows: first, the names of candidates who are the elected incumbents of said offices arranged alphabetically by their surnames and second names of all other persons arranged alphabetically by their surnames.

    (c)

    Determination of Candidates for Election. The two persons receiving at a preliminary election the highest number of votes for an office shall be the sole candidates for that office and whose names shall be printed on the official ballot to be used at the regular election at which said office is to be filled. No acceptance of a nomination at a preliminary election shall be necessary to its validity. If two or more persons are to be elected to the same office at such regular election, the several persons in number equal to twice the number so to be elected, receiving at such preliminary election the highest number of votes for nomination for that office, shall be the sole candidates for that office and whose names shall be printed on the official ballot.

    8.4 Districts.

    The territory of the city shall be divided into six districts for the purpose of electing district councillors.

    Such districts shall be established so as to contain as nearly an equal number of inhabitants as is possible to achieve based on compact and contiguous territory, bounded insofar as possible by the center line of known streets or ways, the Merrimac River, or by other well-defined limits. Each district shall be divided into precincts as may be required by state statutes. The city council shall from time to time review such districts to assure their uniformity in number of inhabitants.

    8.5 Application of State Laws.

    Except as expressly provided in the charter, all city elections shall be governed by the laws of the commonwealth relating to the right to vote, the registration of voters, the nomination of candidates to offices, the conduct of regular, preliminary and special elections, the submission of charter amendments and other propositions to the voters, the counting of votes and the declaration of results and the provisions for recounts of votes.

(Ord. dated 10/14/04 § 2; Ord. dated 1/1/03 § 15; Ord. dated 11/27/01 § 15)