WESTFIELD – Candidates for election to city office this fall may begin to experience a sense of urgency to meet qualification requirements which have several deadlines in August.
The first deadline, at 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2015, is the last day a potential candidate may draw nomination papers from the City Clerk. The campaign season officially opened on April 6 when nomination papers were first issued.
Candidates who have procrastinated until the Aug. 7 nomination paper deadline with have only four days to collect the 50 signatures of registered voters because the deadline for returning those documents for certification is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015.
Candidates may withdraw their nomination until 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27 and the drawing for ballot position is slated to occur on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015.
A preliminary election is scheduled, if needed, for Tuesday, Sept. 22. The need for a preliminary election is based upon the formula of 2X+1, where the X is the number of seats available. An example is the mayoral race, where three candidates of taken out nomination papers for one post.
At the present time only one candidate, Brian P. Sullivan, has returned nomination documents which have been certified by the clerk’s office. The other two candidates, Harold Alan Phelps and Michael L. Roeder have yet to turn in their nomination papers for certification.
If both Phelps and Roeder return papers, which are certified, it will trigger a preliminary election in September to reduce that number to two for the general election slated for Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. The formula for the general election is 2X.
Currently there are also two City Council ward seat races which could trigger a preliminary election, but that picture is clouded by the fact that several of the ward seat candidates have also taken out nomination papers for the City Council At-large race.
The Ward 4 contest includes incumbent Mary L. O’Connell, who has returned her nomination papers which have been certified. O’Connell is being challenged by Mark Butler and Katherine Z. Bentrewicz for the City Council seat, but neither of those candidates has yet returned nomination papers.
Butler has also drawn nomination papers for the City Council At-large race which currently has 14 candidates, although only five candidates have returned those documents for certification. If Butler returns papers for the At-large race it would eliminate the need for a Ward 4 preliminary.
The Ward 6 contest is also crowded. Incumbent Christopher Crean has announced he will not seek reelection this fall. Two members of the Planning Board have drawn nomination papers, Cheryl Crowe and William J. Onyski, who has served as the Planning Board vice chairman for several years, have both turned in their nomination documents which have been certified.
The third potential Ward 6 candidate is At-large incumbent David Flaherty who has also drawn At-large nomination papers. If Flaherty decides to seek reelection as an At-large councilor, it would eliminate the need for a preliminary and Crowe and Onyski would vie for the Ward 6 seat in the November election.
City residents have until Wednesday, Sept. 2, to register to vote if a preliminary election is scheduled for Sept. 22, 2015 and have until Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015 to register to vote in the general election of Nov. 2, 2015.
