ß 1. SPECIAL ELECTIONS.

The council may by ordinance call such special elections as are authorized by the state law and this Charter, fix the time of holding same, and provide all means for holding such special elections, provided that every special election shall be held on a Saturday, unless otherwise provided by law or this Charter, and shall be held as nearly as practicable according to the provisions governing general elections.

ß 2. ELECTION BY MAJORITY AND RUN-OFF ELECTIONS.

The regular election of the Mayor and councilmembers shall be held on the May uniform election date authorized by state law. At every regular election and at every special election called to fill one or more vacant places on the council, election to each place on the council shall be by a majority of all the votes cast for such place at such election. In every such election each qualified voter shall vote for not more than one candidate for each council place to be filled. Where in an election to a place on the council, no candidate receives a majority of all the votes cast for such place at such election, the council shall, immediately upon declaring the official results of the election, issue a call for a run-off election for every place to which no one was elected. Such run-off election shall be held in accordance with state law and the two (2) candidates who received in the preceding election the highest number of votes for each place to which no one was elected shall be voted on again, and the candidate who receives the majority of the votes cast for each such place in the run-off election shall be elected to such place.

Amendment note:

Section 2 appears as amended at the election of May 7, 1994. Such section had previously been amended on April 1, 1967.

Statutory reference:

Dates for holding elections, see Tex. Election Code Ann. Chapter 41 (Vernon 1986)

Editor's note:

The regular election date for election of Councilmembers became the first Saturday in May by Tex. Election Code Ann. ß 41.001 (Vernon 1986)

ß 3. REGULATION OF ELECTIONS.

All elections shall be held in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas regulating the holding of municipal elections and in accordance with the ordinances adopted by the council for the conduct of elections. Provided that the council shall appoint the election judges and other election officials. Voting precincts shall be established by ordinance and may be altered from time to time in like manner.

Statutory reference:

Application of Election Code generally, see Tex. Election Code Ann. ß 1.002 (Vernon 1986)

ß 4. FILING OF CANDIDATES.

Any qualified person who desires to become a candidate for election to a place on the council shall file with the city clerk at least forty-five (45) days prior to the election day an application for his or her name to appear on the ballot. Such application shall be accompanied by a filing fee of five hundred dollars ($500.00). If the petition is sufficient to satisfy statutory requirements, the filing fee may be reduced by one dollar ($1.00) per signature for each registered voter who signs a petition requesting that the name of the candidate be placed on the ballot. In case of a district position, the petition shall be signed by registered voters residing in the particular district. Such application shall clearly designate by number the place on the council to which the candidate seeks election and shall contain a sworn statement by the candidate that he or she is fully qualified under the laws of Texas and the provisions of this Charter to hold the office he or she seeks.

Amendment note:

Section 4 appears as amended at the election of May 7, 1994. Such section was previously amended on April 1, 1978.

ß 5. BALLOTS.

For every regular election and for every special election called to fill one or more vacant places on the council, the city clerk shall place upon the official ballot the name of every candidate who shall file an application which complies with the provisions of this Charter. The council places to be filled shall be placed on the ballot in numerical order. The name of each candidate shall be placed on the ballot under the designated place for which he or she shall have filed, and in such manner that the names of the candidates for each place shall be clearly separate and distinguishable from the names of the candidates for every other council place. The order on the ballot of the names of the candidates for each respective council place shall be determined by lot in a drawing to be held under the supervision of the city clerk, at which drawing each candidate or his or her named representative shall have a right to be present.

Statutory reference:

Ballots generally, see Tex. Election Code Ann. Chapter 52 (Vernon 1986)

ß 6. CANVASSING ELECTION AND DECLARING RESULTS.

The returns of every municipal election shall be delivered by the election judges to the city clerk not later than twelve (12) hours after the closing of the polls. The council shall canvass the returns and declare the official results of the election in accordance with state law. The returns of every municipal election shall be recorded in the minutes of the council, by precinct totals for each candidate.

Amendment note:

Section 6 appears as amended at the election of May 7, 1994.

ß 7. CAMPAIGN EXPENSE STATEMENT.

Every elective officer shall before qualifying and taking his or her seat, file with the city clerk and cause to be published in a newspaper published in the City of Austin, a sworn statement of all his or her election and campaign expenses, and by whom such funds were contributed, the amount of each contribution, and to whom the same was paid for election and campaign purposes, and the amount paid to each person and for what purpose. (Charter of 1909, ß 8, Art. III; Sp. Laws of Texas, 1909, 31st Leg., p. 8, ch. 2)

Statutory reference:

Campaign expenses, see Tex. Election Code Ann. Chapter 251 (Vernon 1986).

ß 8. LIMITS ON CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES.

(A) Limits On Contributions To Candidates.

No candidate for Mayor or City Council and his or her campaign committee shall accept campaign contributions in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) per contributor per election from any person, except for the candidate and small-donor political committees.

Each candidate may authorize, establish, administer, or control only one campaign committee at one time.

No candidate and his or her committee shall accept an aggregate contribution total of more than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) per election, and ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in the case of a runoff election, from sources other than natural persons eligible to vote in Austin.

(B) Small-Donor Political Committees.

A small-donor political committee is a political committee which has accepted no more than twenty-five dollars ($25) from any contributor during any calendar year, has had at least one hundred (100) contributors during either the current or previous calendar year, has been in existence for at least six (6) months, and has never been controlled by a candidate.

Such a committee shall not contribute more than one thousand dollars ($1000) per candidate per election for the offices of Mayor and City Council.

(C) Coordinated Expenditures.

Any expenditure supporting the election of a candidate or opposing the election of an opponent made with the prior consent of the candidate or his or her committee, or with cooperation or strategic communication between the candidate or his or her committee and the person making the expenditure, is considered a contribution and an expenditure.

(D) Contributions Considered To Be From One Committee.

Contributions made by separate political committees established, administered, maintained, or controlled by the same person or persons, including any parent, subsidiary, branch, division, department or local unit of the person, or by groups of those persons, shall be considered to be made by 2 single political committee.

(E) Responsibility Of Candidate To Prevent Violations.

The candidate, or his or her committee, shall determine whether accepting each contribution would violate this section before accepting the contribution.

(F) Time Restrictions On Candidate Fundraising.

Any candidate for Mayor or City Council, and his or her committee, shall neither solicit nor accept contributions except during the last one hundred eighty (180) days preceding a scheduled election for the office sought or in which the councilmember faces recall.

Within ninety (90) days after the election, or within ninety (90) days after this section goes into effect, the candidate shall distribute the balance of campaign funds in excess of expenses for the election on a pro rata basis to the candidates contributors or turn over the excess to the Austin Fair Campaign Fund.

(G) Applicability To Councilmembers.

Any incumbent Mayor or City Councilmember is subject to the regulations applied to candidates for the office he or she holds.

(H) Spending Limits For Candidates.

A candidate for Mayor or City Council may sign a contract with the city agreeing to limit his or her campaign expenditures to seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) during the campaign period, and an additional fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in the event of a runoff election.

Each contract shall provide for damages to the city and to opposing candidates who have signed such a contract.

The City Clerk shall cause to be published, in a newspaper of general circulation, on at least two (a) separate dates twenty-five (25) to ten (10) days prior to each election, a notice of which candidates appearing on the ballot have and have not entered into such a contract.

This subsection shall be enforceable as a matter of contract law in the courts of the state of Texas.

Failure to abide by such a contract once it is signed shall result in the permits described in subsection (K).

(I) Contribution Limits For Non-Candidate Political Committees.

No political committee, except for the campaign committee of a candidate for Mayor or City Council shall accept contributions in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) per calendar year per contributor or from a source other than natural persons.

(J) Prohibition On Political Expenditures By Businesses.

Expenditures by corporations, associations, and labor unions for the purpose of supporting or opposing a ballot item or placing an item on the ballot by petition, are prohibited, except those by a nonprofit corporation formed for the purpose of promoting political ideas or the social welfare of its members and which does not engage in business activities, has no shareholders or other persons affiliated with the corporation who have a claim on its assets or earrings, does not accept business corporations as members, and does not accept more than one percent in the aggregate of total revenue from business corporations.

(K) Penalties.

Any violation of this section is an offense.

Any knowing violation of this section by an incumbent officeholder or officeholder-elect shall ipso facto result in the forfeiture of the office by the person so violating it.

(L) Severability.

If any provision of this section, or the application of that provision to any persons or circumstances, shall be held invalid, then the remainder of this section, to the extent that it can be given effect, and the application of that provision to persons or circumstances other than those to which it was held invalid, shall not be affected thereby, and to this extent the provisions of this section are severable.

Amendment note:

Section 8 was added by the election of November 4, 1997. It took effect on November 7, 1997, the date of the canvass.