Fresno Municipal Code Art. 10 Elections

(a) The Council may by resolution request the County Clerk of the County of Fresno to assume and discharge any or all of the functions of the City Clerk relating to the conduct of municipal elections, as those functions are or may be hereafter delineated under the provisions of the Elections Code of California for the holding of elections in general law cities. The resolution may request such functions to be performed in all future city elections until the request is withdrawn by further resolution of the Council to be transmitted to the County Clerk not less than one hundred eighty days prior to any general or special municipal election, and may request and authorize the County Clerk to furnish all the voting equipment and supplies and to pay the cost of publications of notices and to compensate election officers and other necessary personnel.

(b) The resolution may request and authorize the County Clerk to:

(1) Establish precincts and designate the polling places within the city consisting of either regular election precincts established for holding state or county elections or as such precincts may be divided, altered or consolidated in accordance with the provisions of the Elections Code of California;

(2) Appoint the election officers required by the Elections Code of California to be appointed in municipal elections, from the register of applicants for such positions on file in his office, and present to the Council, at a regular meeting, a list of such precincts and polling places and the names of the election officers appointed to serve therein for approval and confirmation by the Council. The County Clerk may also be authorized to appoint substitute election officers and designate different polling places without approval and confirmation by the Council whenever, after such list has been approved and confirmed as provided herein, any election officer named in such list is unable or refuses to serve or a polling place designated in such list shall for any reason become unavailable.

(c) The resolution may request and authorize the County Clerk to canvass the returns of municipal elections and the returns of any district election with which a municipal election is consolidated, and to prepare and present to the Council, at its usual place of meeting, a certified abstract showing the whole number of votes cast for city candidates and city measures, the total votes cast for each candidate for a municipal office and for and against each city measure submitted in each election, and the number of votes cast at each precinct for each candidate for a municipal office and for and against each measure. The resolution shall provide that the abstract of the returns of any municipal election shall be presented at the first regular Council meeting following completion of the canvass of the returns of a municipal election, at which meeting the Council shall declare the results of the municipal election.

(d) The resolution shall provide for the repayment to the County of its costs in the conduct of each municipal election including a reasonable charge for the use of voting equipment. Upon receipt of a bill from the County covering the total cost of conducting any consolidated election within the City, the Director of Finance shall bill and collect from any district participating in the consolidated election its proportionate share of such total cost.

(Rep. and Added Ord. 6253, Based on former Sec. 2-1405; Am. Ord. 2007-55, § 4, eff. 9-4-07).

On the first Tuesday following the first Monday of each odd numbered calendar year, the Council shall meet to install the newly-elected officers. This is the date on which new terms of office begin as set forth in Section 303 of the Charter. The installation of officers elected by special election to complete a term of office shall be at the meeting in which Council declares the special election results as set forth in Section 2-1001(c) of this Code.

(Rep. and Added Ord. 6253, 1963, Based on former Sec. 2-1406; Am. Ord. 2007-55, § 4, eff. 9-4-07).

The City Council, by resolution, may establish filing fees for the elective office of Mayor and Councilmember. Those fees shall not exceed the cost reasonably borne for conducting the election for the seat in question. The costs to be covered by the filing fees shall include all costs associated with the candidate's filing, including, but not limited to, the proportional cost in administering the election by the City Clerk or County Clerk under contract to provide election services.

(Added Ord. 93-32, § 1, eff. 5-4-93; Am. Ord. 2007-55, § 4, eff. 9-4-07).

In lieu of payment of the filing fees required under Section 2-1003, a candidate may gather signatures on a form to be provided by the City Clerk or County Clerk under contract to provide election services. For Council candidates, the number of signatures required shall be two hundred and fifty registered voters registered to vote within the Council district boundary. Candidates for Mayor shall collect five hundred signatures from voters registered within the City. A voter may sign both the nomination papers and the Filing Fee Waiver Petition for each candidate. A voter may only sign one filing fee waiver form for each office in which he or she is eligible to vote.

(Added Ord. 93-32, § 2, eff. 5-4-93; Am. Ord. 2007-55, § 4, eff. 9-4-07).

By resolution, the City Council may adopt further regulations to implement the filing fee waiver process. The filing fee waiver forms shall be provided at no cost to each candidate upon request. However, the elections official may, rather than provide the candidate with the number of forms necessary to gather the requisite signatures, or, upon request of a candidate, provide the candidate with a master form, which may be duplicated by the candidate for the purpose of circulating additional petitions. No other form except the furnished form, or duplicates thereof, shall be used by a candidate to secure signatures. All forms shall be made available commencing forty-five days before the first day for circulating nominating papers. However, in case of vacancies for which a special election is authorized or required to be held to fill the vacancy, and where the prescribed nomination period would commence less than forty-five days after the declaration of the vacancy by the City Council, the forms shall be made available within five working days after the City Council declaration. The forms to be used shall be in substantially the same form as the nomination papers signature form.

(Added Ord. 93-32, § 5, eff. 5-4-93; Am. Ord. 2007-55, § 4, eff. 9-4-07).

The fee waiver process shall be subject to the following provisions:

(a) Any registered voter may sign an in-lieu-filing-fee petition for any candidate for whom he or she is eligible to vote.

(b) If a voter signs more candidate's petitions than there are offices to be filled, the voter's signatures shall be valid only for those petitions which, taken in the order they were filed, do not exceed the number of offices to be filled.

(c) In-lieu-filing-fee petitions shall be filed at least fifteen days prior to the close of nomination period. Upon receipt of the minimum number of in-lieu-filing-fee signatures required, the elections official shall issue nomination papers provisionally. Within ten days after receipt of a petition, the elections official shall notify the candidate of any deficiency. The candidate shall then, prior to the close of the nomination period, submit a supplemental petition to cover the deficiency.

(d) Each candidate may submit a greater number of signatures to allow for subsequent losses due to invalidity of some signatures. The elections official shall not be required to determine the validity of a greater number of signatures than that required by this section.

(Added Ord. 93-32, § 4, eff. 5-4-93; Am. Ord. 2007-55, § 4, eff. 9-4-07).