City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo (Hyde Park, Roslindale, Mattapan), hopes to start the ball rolling on getting the state Legislature to let Boston not have to hold three and possibly four mayor elections this year should Marty Walsh become labor secretary before March 5 - Covid-19 just makes that too damn risky to voters, not to mention expensive.
The city charter currently would require a special election to fill Walsh's term until after the next regularly scheduled election - which would be this fall. If more than two candidates file to run in the special election, then the city would have to hold a preliminary election as well. Any changes to the charter, such as eliminating its mayoral special-election calendar, require action by the legislature and the governor.
Boston would not be mayorless during the interregnum - under the charter, Council President Kim Janey becomes acting mayor upon Walsh's resignation.
In a statement, Arroyo said that it just doesn't make sense to elect somebody who would only serve until January, when whoever wins the November final would take office.
Holding an unnecessary and redundant special election for the position of Mayor of Boston would endanger the health of Boston residents during a deadly pandemic, exacerbate an already uncertain financial future for the City, and contribute to existing inequities often seen in special elections that contribute to the disenfranchisement of immigrant, low-income, disabled, Black, and Latinx communities.
Arroyo will ask for council action at its regularly scheduled meeting, which begins at noon on Wednesday.
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Nope
By adamg
Sun, 01/10/2021 - 11:24pm
At-large and district seats are handled differently. With the at-large seats, if one councilor leaves, the fifth-place finisher becomes councilor. Hello Councilor Garrison! But with district councilors, the city charter requires a special election be held to replace a councilor who leaves. Hello Councilor O'Malley, who won a special election to replace John Tobin when he got a job at Northeastern.
So if Owens wants to get on the council, he's going to have to end his decades-long losing streak.
Acting Mayor
By anon
Sun, 01/10/2021 - 5:15pm
It seems as though Janey could be both Acting Mayor and District City Councilor at the same time, since she would hold the Acting Mayor seat ex officio.
Arroyo’s argument that we could avoid preliminary and general special elections only holds if Janey holds both jobs. If a district city council seat becomes vacant more than 180 days before a regular municipal election, then both preliminary and general special elections are required for that seat.
The big problem is that the Acting Mayor can act only on matters “not admitting of delay" and cannot make permanent appointments. If Arroyo’s proposal is adopted, we would have an Acting Mayor until January 2022. Putting all non-urgent matters off for almost a year is wrong.
The laws defining the conditions for special elections to fill a vacancy in the mayor’s office have been essentially unchanged since 1951. [Acts of 1948, c. 42, s. 13 as amended by Acts of 1951, c. 376, s. 1.13 as further amended by Acts of 1996, c. 328, s. 1] (https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/bitstream/handle/...)
Changing the law for filling a vacancy now, when a vacancy is imminent, is ridiculous.
Special elections are racist now?
By Refugee
Sat, 01/09/2021 - 9:48pm
This is an obscene example of slapping the 'systemic racism' on everything. Giving people the opportunity to vote actually 'disenfranchises' people who don't choose to vote.
So what's in it for Arroyo?
By anon
Sat, 01/09/2021 - 5:39pm
So what's in it for Arroyo? What's he stand to gain?
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