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Section 600 of the Charter of the City of Santa Clara is amended to be entitled and to read as follows:
Sec. 600 City elected officers.
No person shall be eligible to hold any elective office in the City including Mayor, City Council, Chief of Police Department and City Clerk, unless he or she is a resident and a qualified registered elector of the City.
The elective officers of the City shall consist of a City Council composed of seven members, the Chief of the Police Department and the City Clerk. The members of the City Council, (which includes the office of the Mayor), the Chief of the Police Department and the City Clerk shall be elected from the City at large at the times and in the manner provided in this Charter. Except as otherwise herein provided, a person elected to an office for other than an unexpired term, shall serve a term of four years, and shall serve until a successor is elected and qualified. The term shall commence on the date the City Council certifies the canvass of the election returns submitted to it by the County Registrar of Voters.
The person receiving the most votes cast for a particular City office shall be declared duly elected. Ties shall be broken as provided from time to time by ordinance.
The office of Mayor shall be separately voted upon and is a separate office. The person elected at any election to the office designated “Mayor” shall be deemed elected, both as a Mayor and as a member of the Council. Although the Mayor is a Council member, his or her election does not change the number of Council members from seven.
No person shall be a candidate for both Mayor and a City Council seat at the same election. However, an incumbent member of the City Council may run for the elective office of Mayor, and the Mayor may run for the separate office of Mayor or other City Council office. However, at no time shall a member of the Council, including the Mayor, hold more than one City elective office. Except as otherwise provided elsewhere in this Charter, no incumbent member of the City Council while serving in such office with an unexpired term of more than six months shall be a candidate for any numbered Council seat other than the one which he or she holds.
Section 700.1 of the Charter of the City of Santa Clara is repealed and replaced to read as follows:
Sec. 700.1 Elections - City elected officers.
For purposes of City Council elections, each Council office shall be designated by an appropriate descriptive designation, as follows: The Council seat which on the effective date of this Section is occupied by the Mayor shall continue to be designated as “Mayor”; each of the other six seats, respectively, shall be designated as “Council Member Seat No. 2,” “Council Member Seat No. 3,” “Council Member Seat No. 4,” “Council Member Seat No. 5,” “Council Member Seat No. 6” and “Council Member Seat No. 7” respectively, and shall continue to be designated by the respective designation. The designation so given to each such office shall thereafter be used in all election, nomination papers, certificates of election, and other election papers pertaining or referring to such office, and to designate incumbency in such office.
Sec. 700.1 Elections - City Council
Members of the City Council shall be elected out of a single multi-member election. Six Council Members shall be selected and seated.
Section 700.2 of the Charter of the City of Santa Clara is added to read as follows:
Sec. 700.2 Elections - Methods of Election
The city shall use ranked-choice balloting in all elections for Mayor, Police Chief, City Clerk, and City Council.
Voters can rank, in order of preference, as many or few of the candidates running for office as they like.
The City Council can adopt a privileged ordinance to define vote counting procedures in light of the current capacities of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.
Unless modified by privileged ordinance, counting shall be done by the Meek method, as defined in March 1994 Edition of Voting matters by McDougall Trust.
Section 700.3 of the Charter of the City of Santa Clara is added to read as follows:
Sec. 700.3 Elections - Transitional Periods
Upon amendment to the City Charter of a modification that requires a transitional period, the City Council shall, by Ordinance, adopt a procedure that respects the prior practices of the city while efficiently transitioning to the newly adopted system.
For the November 2022 Election, the City Council shall adopt a transitional procedure that involves electing open seats for a partial, 2 year term.
Section 808.1 of the Charter of the City of Santa Clara is added to read as follows:
Sec. 808.1 Privileged Ordinance
A Privileged Ordinance is one that, in additional to all other requirements, may only adopted upon a four-fifths (4/5) majority vote.
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