Council to debate ballot requirement
Boston Globe, July 10, 2007
By Matt Viser
The city council tomorrow will consider re-jiggering the city elections this year to avoid holding a September preliminary to narrow a field of at-large City Council hopefuls by one, from nine candidates to eight.
One of the incumbents, Stephen Murphy, has filed a request for a home rule petition that would allow the city to put all nine candidates on the November ballot, rather than hold an election that would cost at least $500,000 to eliminate one candidate.
"This seems like a high cost to pay to remove one name from a ballot," said Murphy, who himself also has a financial stake in the matter since he'd save money by spending on one election instead of two.
Nine candidates turned in their required 500 signatures several weeks ago, guaranteeing them a spot on the ballot. The signatures of one of those candidates, Martin J. Hogan, have been challenged, requiring the Election Department to review his signatures again.
City law says that a preliminary election has to be held for at-large city councilors if more than eight candidates qualify for the ballot. The Globe reported on the quirk in an article last week.
"I hope the council, mayor, and state officials can work quickly to close this awkward and costly requirement in time for the election," said Council President Maureen Feeney.
City Councilor at-Large Michael Flaherty, though, disagreed with the petition.
"We need to open the door wider for people to enter into the democratic process, not narrow it," Flaherty said. "Bending the rules at our convenience is not what we were elected to do."