By Sara Beth Williams–
Only one City Council candidate’s name will appear on the ballot for voters in District 3 of Citrus Heights. Councilmember Tim Schaefer was elected in 2020 for a 4-year term, which expires in 2024. He’s currently running for reelection in District 3, unopposed.
According to the Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections Office, running an election can be expensive. As well, many races for various boards across the region where only an incumbent registered to run, were canceled, and the incumbent was reelected by default.
However, Schaefer is still listed as on the ballot for District 3. So why wasn’t his election canceled like so many others?
The city issued a statement in response, saying, “In consultation with the County of Sacramento Voter Registration & Elections, in accordance with the deadlines pursuant to Election Code 10403 there was not sufficient time to provide the City Council an opportunity to hold a special or regular meeting to make a determination whether or not to cancel the election for the City Council District 3 seat.”
As such, his name will appear alone on the ballot for voters in District 3, with no opponent.
Citrus Heights City Clerk Amy Van confirmed that this was the first time in the city’s history that a City Council candidate is running unopposed. In order to run for election in any given District, individuals must meet specific requirements, including living in the district where they are running. The city transitioned to district-based elections in 2019 and held the first district-based election on Nov. 3, 2020. Prior to 2020, the city conducted at-large elections.
The County Elections office charges a base set-up fee of $2,061 per district and the first contest fee is $2.32 per registered voter, according to the city. According to the election cost estimator on the County Election’s website, the estimated cost for keeping Schaefer on the ballot is $27,000, which includes the base set-up fee for one candidate, a candidate statement cost of $600, and a cost per registered voter fee for 10,573 voters, which totals a little over $24,000.
A final invoice will be sent from the County of Sacramento at the conclusion of the election. Van said the city has allocated $60,000 for all election-related costs.
A nomination period for anyone wishing to pull papers to run as a write-in candidate for District 3 is still open until Oct. 22. For more information, visit the city’s election page here.
Only one City Council candidate's name will appear on the ballot for voters in District 3 of Citrus Heights...
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