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City Council Vacancy

The District 1 City Council seat became vacant Oct. 9 with the resignation of City Council Member Barbara Hamilton. That triggered a 60-day period during which the City Council can appoint someone to serve the rest of the term or call for a special election to fill the seat.  At their meeting of Oct. 22, City Council voted to use an appointment process to fill the vacant seat and directed the City Clerk to prepare a Notice of Intention to Fill a Vacancy for City Council Member District 1 by Appointment.  Applicants must be registered voters residing in District 1 at the time of application submittal.  The application period is Oct. 24 - Nov. 12.  The City Council is scheduled to consider an appointment at its Nov. 19 meeting.  Applications must be filed with the City Clerk's office by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12.   

Under the Carlsbad Municipal Code, if 10 percent of the voters in District 1 sign a petition during those 60 days calling for an election, the City Council must fill the vacancy by an election.

The vacancy will fill the four-year term that ends in November 2022.

To provide accurate and timely information about options for filling the vacancy, the City Attorney’s Office worked with an outside election lawyer to prepare the following questions and answers document.

Petition Circulation Information

The following is information intended to assist the public in the requirements necessary to circulate a petition to fill a City Council Vacancy by Special Election: 

  1. The petition format shall follow the format outlined in California Elections Code Chapter 2.
  2. Residents signing the petition must be registered to vote in the District for which the petition is being circulated.
  3. All sections of the petition must be submitted to the City Clerk’s office at the same time during normal business hours (8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday)
  4. All sheets comprising each petition section shall be fastened together securely and remain so during circulation and filing.
  5. Circulation of the petition must occur within 60 days of the date of the vacancy.
  6. The number of signatures required from registered voters in District No. 1 to prompt a Special Election to fill the vacancy as of Sept. 25 was 1,654.

  7. Based on the applicable statutory deadlines and the City Council’s regular meeting schedule:
    (a) For a voter-initiated special election to be held on March 3, 2020, the voter petitions must have been received by the City Clerk, verified by the Registrar of Voters, and presented to the City Council at its regular meeting on October 22, 2019.
    (b) For a voter-initiated special election to be held on April 14, 2020, the voter petitions must be received by the City Clerk, verified by the Registrar of Voters, and presented to the City Council at its regular meeting on Nov. 19, 2019.

    Please note:  The Registrar of Voters has up to 30 days to verify voter signatures.  The verification process may take less time in this instance because of the relatively small number of voter signatures required.

More information

Even More Information

Office of the City Clerk
clerk@carlsbadca.gov
760-434-2808