The City of Vernon, Florida called a Special Emergency Meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, as seen in the video (below) to address elections qualifying for upcoming replacement seats for Mayor and Council members.
Realizing that the upcoming Vernon City Council election qualifying advertising was not done per the normally adopted and followed Florida state elections regulation of two insertions in the local newspaper, City of Vernon, Florida Attorney Michelle Jordan suggested that the City of Vernon run a second qualifying period in advance of the upcoming election for Council members.
Stating that the current situation possibly opens the City up to legal challenges, Jordan gave the Council members several options on Tuesday evening, stating that if the Council decided to re-run the qualifying period, the City would have to re-advertise the process twice in the 30 days prior to the qualifying period, and then reschedule the election date.
Stating that more potential City Council candidates might have come forward if there had been advertising as in the past, Jordan suggested that the prudent course may be to rerun the qualifying period and to reschedule the election.
Acting Clerk Michelle Cross expressed that she has never written an ad and expressed that she could not find past ads in City Hall after which to pattern a new ad, also stating that the minimum number of ballots she could order was 250 and was unsure of how long it would take to get the printed forms.
Attorney Jordan suggested that if there was not time to get ballots printed, the City could implement a handwritten ballot.
A motion was made to cancel the current election, passed unanimously, then a motion was made and passed for Jordan to prepare an emergency ordinance, moving the qualifying date and the date of the election.
It was discussed and decided that any candidates who have already qualified for the process will not have to be re-qualified for this newly-schedule election.
A Special Meeting has been called for March 7, 2022, to coincide with the regular Monthly Meeting, to adopt these measures.