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HomeMy WebLinkAbout129 - 08/17/1999 - SUBMITTING A CHARTER AMENDMENT TO THE VOTERS PERTAINING TO THE APPEARANCE OF NAMES ON ELECTION BALLO ORDINANCE NO. 129, 1999 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS SUBMITTING TO A VOTE OF THE REGISTERED ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ARTICLE VIII, OF THE CITY CHARTER, PERTAINING TO THE APPEARANCE OF NAMES ON ELECTION BALLOTS WHEREAS,Article IV,Section 8 of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins provides that the Charter may be amended as provided by the laws of the State of Colorado; and WHEREAS, Section 31-2-210, C.R.S.,provides that Charter amendments may be initiated by the adoption of an ordinance by the Council submitting a proposed amendment to a vote of the registered electors of the City of Fort Collins; and WHEREAS, the Charter is silent with respect to the manner in which names should appear on an election ballot; and WHEREAS,the City Council wishes to ensure that the appearance of a candidate's name on the ballot will not provide any unfair advantage to the candidate; and WHEREAS, the Council believes that this objective can best be achieved by requiring that candidate names be placed on the ballot in alphabetical order by surname for each office, and by prohibiting the printing of titles or degrees designating the business or profession of the candidate, as well as the use of punctuation marks to distinguish the use of a nickname; and WHEREAS,City staff has proposed an amendment to Article VIII of the Charter so as to add a section relating to the manner in which names shall appear on the ballot; and WHEREAS, the City Council believes that the foregoing proposed amendment should be submitted to the registered electors of the City so that the voters may determine whether said amendment is in the best interests of the City. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE. COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the following proposed change to Article VIII of the City Charter shall be submitted to the registered electors of the City as "Proposed Charter Amendment No. 4" at a special municipal election to be held in conjunction with the Larimer County,Colorado Coordinated Election on Tuesday, November 2, 1999: ARTICLE VIII. ELECTIONS Section 6. Appearance of names on ballot. Every ballot shall contain the names of all duly nominated candidates for offices to be voted for at that election,except those who have died or withdrawn. The names shall be arranged in alphabetical order of surname for each office, and shall not contain any title or degree designating the business or profession of the candidate. The candidate's name may be a nickname, but shall not include any punctuation marks setting out the nickname. Section 2. That, if the amendment provided for in Section 1 above is approved by the registered electors of the City of Fort Collins,the subsequent sections of Article VIII of the Charter shall be renumbered accordingly. Section 3. That the following ballot language is hereby adopted for submitting Proposed Charter Amendment No. 4 to the voters at said election: CITY OF FORT COLLINS BALLOT ISSUE 2_ PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 4 Amendments to Article VIII, Section IV of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins pertaining to elections, which amendments would require that candidates' names be placed on the ballot in alphabetical order by surname for each office, would prohibit the printing of titles or degrees designating the business or profession of the candidate, and would prohibit the use of punctuation marks to distinguish the use of any nickname. YES NO Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 3rd day of August, A.D. 1999, and to be presented for final passage on the 17th day of August, A.D. 1999. s Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk -2- Passed and adopted on final reading this 17th day of August, A.D. 1999. Mayor ATTEST: kA A ."AA City Clerk -3-