About the October Elect i on Proces s There is an election coming up on October 3, 2019, and 17 municipal positions are up for election. Maybe you are wondering why you should care? Maybe you’ll just vote for someone because of their name or because you respect them, or because they grew up near or with you. Well, I’m here to tell you that is why Memphis is and has been so politically screwed up for the past 200 years. It is most definitely time for a change. My question is, “Are you really ready for it?” The Mayor or Chief Executive Officer of the City of Memphis has responsibility for the: 1. General supervision of all City of Memphis officers, and to 2. Ensure that all ordinances and provisions of the Charter are observed. The City of Memphis’s Charter reads as follows, “The qualifications of said Mayor and of the members of said Board of Commissioner shall be those now required by law for the members of the present legislative council, and the Mayor shall have the additional qualifications now provided by law for said office; provided, however, that no person shall be ineligible to said office because of having heretofore held said office. What that means is that both former Mayor Willie W. Herenton and current Mayor, Jim Strickland, are eligible to run for the office should they choose to do so, but we will get back to that later. Other qualifications for Mayor include: 1. Being a citizen of the United States or who “holds any office or agency under the City of Memphis, Shelby, TN”; 2. Being a resident of the City of Memphis for the past five (5) years; 3. Not being in arrears or owing taxes; 4. Not being 30 years of age or older with good moral character; and 5. Not being “directly or indirectly interested in any contract with the City of Memphis.” The term for the Mayor of Memphis is four (4) years. The date of the election was changed from the first Thursday after the first Monday in November to the third Thursday in August and provided staggered terms by “2008 Referendum No. 1, adopted August 21, 2008. However, on April 13, 2010, these rules were overridden by Referendum Ordinance 5347, which repealed the election procedure for implementation of staggered terms and provided for the election of persons to the Memphis City Council, Office of the Mayor, and Office of City Court Clerk to two (2) consecutive four-year terms without staggered terms.” YOU, the votes of Memphis approved this Referendum Ordinance on November 2, 2010. In the event the Mayor’s seat becomes vacant, as it has in the past, the City Council Chair will become the Mayor Pro14 15 Term and shall assume the role of Mayor for up to 180 days following the vacancy announcement. After this period of time, YOU, the public voting members of Memphis, shall elect a duly qualified person to serve the remaining unexpired term of the vacated office unless a regularly scheduled general or municipal election will occur first and within the 180 day timeline. Otherwise, “...a special election shall be held within 90 days of such vacancy to elect a candidate to fill the Office of the Mayor through the end of the remaining unexpired Mayoral term.” In case of the contested election of Mayor, the Board of Commissioners shall determine the same, and when it is ascertained that two or more persons have the same number of votes for Mayor, they shall elect one of such persons for Mayor. As of today, the majority of the Shelby County Election Commissions website (shelbyvote.com) is inoperable or down. The list of qualifying candidates was not available after the qualifying deadline date and time of noon, Thursday, July 18, 2019; nor was any information available by Thursday, July 25, 2019, the last day for candidates to withdraw from the process. This election will decide who will fill the following seats: City Council Districts 1 through 7 City Council Super Districts 8 and 9, Positions 1 through 3 Memphis City Court Clerk (Incumbent is Kay S. Robilio) Email: tvb@memphistn.gov; Phone: (901) 636-3457; and the Memphis Municipal Judges Divisions 1 through 3. The last day to register to vote in the October 3rd election is Tuesday, September 3, 2019. Early voting begins Friday, September 13th and ends on Saturday, September 28, 2019. Make plans to vote today. 24
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