City Council to take up election for LaMotte’s LAUSD seat tomorrow
Vanessa Romo | January 9, 2014
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With unusual dispatch, the Los Angeles City Council will address the issue of a special election tomorrow to fill the vacant seat at the Los Angeles Unified school board left by the death of Marguerite LaMotte.
The City Council must approve the action taken by the LA Unified school board earlier this week, after spirited debate, that called for a special election. City Council is set to consider the schedule and instruct the City Clerk to take steps toward holding the election on June 3, 2014, which will correspond with the California statewide primary, and stand-alone runoff, if necessary, on August 12, 2014.
Only residents of the district who have been registered to vote by this week are eligible to run. Candidates then have a filing period of Feb. 10 to 18 to register and from Feb. 10 to March 7 to collect and file 500 signatures from people living in the district.
Each candidate is required to pay a $300 fee to make it on the ballot. However, the fee can be waived by collecting an additional 500 signatures.
The City Clerk’s office legally has 10 days to verify nomination signatures but because of the rushed timeline, Jinny Pak, Chief of the City Clerk Election Division, said they’ll do it in seven.
The petitions are turned over to the Los Angeles County Registrar’s office.
The Aug. 12 runoff will be held if a single candidate fails to get more than 50 percent of the vote.
Pak confirmed that the estimated costs for the election, as presented at Tuesday’s special board meeting, as about $973,000 for a primary and $2.5 million altogether if a runoff is needed.
“Once we’re done conducting the election then we’ll send a bill to the school board,” she said before adding, “but we never know how much it’s really going to be until it’s over.”
Previous Posts: The LA Unified board sets June 3 election to fill vacant LaMotte seat; Editorial boards agree on special election for LAUSD seat; Our survey results: Readers prefer a special election.