To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Sally A. Misare, Town Clerk
Title
Ordinance: Repealing and Reenacting Chapter 2.01 of the Castle Rock Municipal Code Concerning Elections (Second Reading)
Body
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This item was approved by a vote of 4-1 on First Reading on November 3, 2015, and there have been no changes to the Ordinance since it was approved.
Please note, that with the passage of Charter Amendment 1 B, this Ordinance would only be used for a Special Elections which the County was unable to conduct on the Town’s behalf.
Executive Summary
This item was presented for Discussion and Direction on October 20, 2015 at which time Council directed staff to finalize the item and bring the Ordinance back to Council for consideration.
There were two changes made to the draft Ordinance since it was previously presented:
1) The threshold for contributions and/or expenditures to trigger financial filing requirements for an Issue Committee was set at $2500.
2) Language was added to clarify that Petition Representatives are entitled to appoint watchers, regardless of whether they are registered electors of the Town.
Background
The Town Council previously directed staff to prepare updates to the Town’s Election Code, which would be used to govern the conduct of any Town Election when the Town is unable to participate in County-wide Coordinated election, or unable to independently contract with the County to conduct a municipal election on our behalf under Title 1. This could occur with a Special Election on an initiative, referendum or recall, where timelines for conducting the election are dictated by Statute and may be such that for the Town to meet these timing requirements, it is not possible to have Douglas County conduct the election, or in any other instance when Douglas County declines to hold the election on behalf of the Town. Therefore these proposed Election Code provisions would be used for any election conducted by the Town of Castle Rock that was not Coordinated or contracted with the County.
This ordinance accomplishes updates and amendments to the existing Town’s Election Code including, but not limited to, the following provisions:
• Adds the basic recount, contest and controversy provisions of the Municipal Election Code, with minor amendments to coincide with overlapping local timeframes for certain activities, including canvass of the election results.
These provisions are similar to those that were included in Ordinance 2014-25, which was considered but not adopted by Council in August 2014. Changes that were recommended by Council have been incorporated, including limiting those eligible to request a recount to any registered elector of the Town, or a candidate or petition representative for a ballot issue or question (eliminating a registered agent of an issue committee who may or may not be registered elector of the Town.)
• Incorporates the relevant provisions of HB 15-1130, which was adopted by the General Assembly during the 2015 legislative session to require elections conducted under the Municipal Election Code to facilitate voting by military and oversees voters (UOCAVA). These provisions address when ballots are mailed to voters designated as UOCAVA voters to assure timely delivery, in order to enhance opportunities to allow these voters to participate in local elections. The proposed Ordinance retains the provision in the current Town Code which allows military and overseas voters to return ballots by electronic means.
• As a result of the addition of the UOCAVA provisions, the timeframe for circulation of nominating petitions has changed significantly - it is now between 91 days and 71 days prior to an election rather than the 60 to 45 days it is under our current code.
• Revises the FCPA section to eliminate the meeting between the complainant and the alleged violator and removes the Town Clerk as an arbiter of complaints; the Clerk will only respond to written complaints (i.e., the Clerk is not responsible for identifying violations). When an alleged violation has not been remedied upon notice to the alleged violator, the matter would be referred to the municipal court prosecutor for evaluation. As with any case in the municipal court, the municipal prosecutor will have discretion to evaluate it and determine whether it should be prosecuted.
• Amends the filing requirement and financial reporting requirements for Issue Committees to apply only when contributions and expenditures exceed $200, the amount specified in the Colorado Constitution.
• Adds language to clarify that any Ordinance setting a ballot question becomes effective upon Council approval on second reading of said Ordinance.
• Requires that watchers be appointed by a registered voter of the Town of Castle Rock.
• Incorporates the majority of the election offenses identified in the Municipal Election Code.
• Mandates the use of Secrecy Sleeves with mail ballots.
• Provides that registered agents of issue committees must be registered electors of the Town in order to be eligible to appoint a watcher
• Establishes the maximum fine for any violation of the Fair Campaign Practices provisions to $300, and removes and the potential for jail time.
• Makes other clarifications, amendments or additions to areas identified by the Town Attorney and the Town Clerk.
This Ordinance does not require signature verification for mail ballots because the technology to fully implement such a procedure is not available to municipalities within SCORE (the statewide voter registration system). The Clerk’s association is already working with various State Representatives on this issue, and legislation will likely be presented during the 2016 Legislative Session to establish a process under the Municipal Election Code whereby signature verification can be used at the local level. Should this occur, staff would prepare an amendment to this Ordinance and bring it back for Council consideration.
Proposed Motion
I move to approved an Ordinance repealing and reenacting Chapter 2.01 of the Castle Rock Municipal Code concerning elections on first reading.
Attachments
Attachment A: Ordinance