Ready to start talking about the November election? No, no, not THAT November election. The Greenbelt City Council election, which happens every two years. Although pre-election buzz has been more noticeable this year than in 2015, it’s been long on gossip and short on facts. That will start to change soon. In a little more than two weeks, incumbents and the challengers will begin circulating petitions and filing papers to have their names placed on the ballot for the Tuesday, November 7, 2017 city election. Candidate packets containing all the necessary information and forms for running for office will be available at the city clerk’s office in the Municipal Building, 25 Crescent Road, beginning Monday, August 21. Candidates may file until 5 p.m. on Monday, September 25. Under the city’s current law, any “qualified voter” of the city may run for city council. A qualified voter is a resident of the city who is registered to vote at a Greenbelt residence address and eligible to vote in Prince George’s County. That means voters must be 18 by election day, but discussion is still underway about whether to expand voting eligibility in city elections to include 16- and 17-year-olds. Greenbelt has a seven-member council, all of whom are elected at large for two-year terms: that is, there are no wards or districts in Greenbelt and each voter may vote for up to seven candidates. Elections are nonpartisan. No separate contest is held to run for the office of mayor. Both the mayor and mayor pro tem are elected by the city council. While the council is authorized by the city charter to select whichever of its members it chooses to fill these positions, it traditionally has elected the two members who received the highest and second-highest number of votes in the city election.
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