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Home My WebLink About30882 - MINUTES - City Commission MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF DANIA, FLORIDA, HELD AT THE CITY HALL, DANIA, FLORIDA, -AT 11: 00 A. M. , WEDNESDAY, NOVE14BER 8, 1972 A special meeting f the City Commission of the City of Dania, Florida, was held at the Z_ity Hall, Dania, Florida,. at 11:00 a.m. , Wednesday, November 8, 1972 . Those present at the meeting were: Mayor-Commissioner William E. Jackson Commissioners Robert B. Kelly Frank Salvino Boisy N. Waiters City Manager Woodward M. Hampton City Clerk-Auditor E. R. Clay City Attorney Clarke Walden Mayor Jackson called the meeting to order. He announced that the meeting was a special meeting being called on the day following the general municipal elections (which were held on Tuesday, November 7, 1972) with the purpose of the meeting being that of canvassing the returns of the election and certifying the results. Mr. Clay, as city clerk-auditor, stated for the record that !' with respect to the municipal elections held on November 7, 1972, the results of the voting at each of the four precincts , or polling places , within the city had been properly signed and certified by the election officials immediately after the closing of the polls and then transmitted to the city manager and city clerk-auditor, as re- quired by the charter. Such returns and related voting records were available at the meeting. Mr. Clay then presented to each member of the city commission and to all other interested parties a written summary of the results, as follows: V 0 T E S C A S T Precinct Precinct Precinct Precinct Name of candidate no. 69 no. 70 no. 70-A no. 71 Total S Frank C. Adler 65 201 163 579 1,008 Robert H. (Bob) Duncanson 209 323 224 673 1,429 O John J. Kay 71 203 164 494 932 Robert B. Kelly 260 168 ill 354 893 Harry N. Loury 44 190 154 503 891 Boisy N. Waiters 441 129 73 281 924 Totals 0.9 1,214 889 2,�8844 6 ,077 -1- 1 (:it3i Mr. Clay further reported that a total of 3,018 persons voted at the election, with the total persons voting ineachofatheally four precincts being summarized as follows: �^ Number of per- Precincnt no, sons voting ` :. No. 69 768 ® No. 70 575 n No. 70-A 4hxrt."' 374 No. 71 r 1,301 Total persons voting 3,118. Mayor Jackson asked Mr. Walden to state to the city commission the proper procedure which it should then follow with respect to the • meeting. Mr. Walden advised the commission that it should canvass the returns by examining the totals reported by each precinct to make cer- tain that the summary, or tally, prepared by Mr. Clay was correct. Subject to any adjustments or corrections which should be properly made in the summary, the city commission should then formally declare the results as shown by such returns to be the official results of the • general election held on November 8, 1972. Inasmuch as there existed three vacancies in the office of city commissioner to be filled as a result of the election, Mr. Walden then stated that the city commission should declare the three candidates receiving the highest number of votes as being the persons elected to office. Mr. Walden further suggested that the city clerk-auditor should then certify (or give a ® certificate of election) showing the persons who were elected. Mr. Robert H. (Bob) Duncanson, the person receiving the highest number of votes and a person apparently elected to office as a result of the election, was then recognized. Mr. Duncanson stated that he did object to the election because he felt that there existed certain irregularities which he wanted to call to the attention of the city commission for purposes of discussion. Mr. Walden then indicated to the city commission that he was perhaps aware of the some of the points which Mr. Duncanson wished to discuss. Mr. Walden stated that he had prepared a formal opinion earlier in the morning regarding what matters the city commission might consider. He then distributed the opinion • to the members of the commission and to all other interested parties. Thereafter, he read the opinion. A copy of the opinion is attached and made a part of these minutes. After reading the opinion, Mr. Walden briefly discussed same. He referred in some detail to a Florida Supreme Court case (Gough vs. b State, a copy of which is attached to Mr. Walden's opinion) as being one which interpreted the charter of the City of Avon Park and he stated that the charter of City of Avon Park was substantially iden- tical to the charter of City of Dania in providing, in effect, that each of the municipalities shall be the judge of its elections . Mr. Walden stated that the Supreme Court had held that such language meant that the city commission should limit itself to the arithmetical func- tion of computing election figures from the totals on the returns from each precinct and then certifying the aggregate vote. Mr. Walden stated positively that the city commission, as a canvassing board, had absolutely no authority to attempt to go behind the returns for the purpose of trying to analyze or judge the legality of the votes as -2- i 5� v this was purely a judicial, or court, function if some aggrieved y candidate wished to file a suit to contest the validity of the elec- tion. Mr. Walden stated that he would not attempt to speculate or r guess what a court might do as there were actually no facts before iF the commission clearly showing any improper votes. He stated that ;N !.: he was merely advising the commission that it did not have the duty to try to rule on the validity of any particular vote that was cast. . Mr. Duncanson was then recognized again and was permitted to y' sl state his objections or complaints regarding the election. Thereafter, a lengthy discussion followed in which Mr. Duncanson, members of the city commission, the city manager, the city clerk-auditor and the city attorney participated. All of the discussions concerned the various r objections and criticisms presented by Mr. Duncanson. Finally, at the conclusion of such discussions , Mayor Jackson stated that it was proper to entertain a motion to certify the results of the election as the city attorney had advised that the city commission had no right to attempt to change, or alter, the election totals because of the matters presented by Mr. Duncanson. <i Mr. Kelly indicated that he thought the record should show, r, or summarize, the specific objections raised by Mr. Duncanson. Mayor Jackson then instructed Mr. Walden to state for the record a summary of the points raised by Mr. Duncanson so that the record could reflect that Mr. Duncanson had made the objections before the totals were r certified. r. Mr. Walden summarized the objections as follows : (1) Objection that persons who were not qualified electors--because of non-residence--voted in precinct no. 69 ; (2) Objection that many electors were misled or con- fused because each voting machine contained both national and state ballots as well as the Dania ballot. It was felt that advance notice should have been given to the voters that all of the ballots appeared on the one voting machine instead of on separate machines. (3) Objection as to position of Dania ballot on the voting machine. It was felt that some voters did not see the Dania ballot or that the position of the ballot was a poor one. (4) Possible objection to holding Dania elections on same date as national elections. The conclusion seemed to be that the city should simply consider the possibility of alternative dates in future years. (5) Possible objection to use of county voting machines. The conclusion seemed to be that the city i might investigate the possibility of purchasing its own machines. Thereafter, Mr. Kelly moved that the election results, as previously summarized or reported by Mr. Clay, be approved by the city commission (acting as a canvassing board) , that such results O be officially declared as the results of the 1972 general election in the City of Dania, Florida, to fill the vacancies on the city commission, and that Mr. Duncanson, Mr. Adler and Mr. Kay be de- clared the winners of the election and each of them duly elected to office as city commissioner of City of Dania, Florida. Mr. Waiters ® -3- seconded the motion. On roll call vote, the motion was approved by each of the four commissioners present. Thereafter, Mayor Jackson declared the motion as being carried. ® Mr. Walden then suggested to Mr. Clay that he should furnish each of the successful candidates with a certificate declaring him to be duly elected to office. i# a Mr. Kelly then requested Mr. Clay to ask the supervisor of elections to impound all voting machines used in the city elections, ® as well as all related voting records , for a period of ten days. a After such request was made, Mayor Jackson directed Mr. Clay to make g" the request immediately to the supervisor of elections so that the totals on the machines and all records could be preserved in the event any suit might be filed. O Mayor Jackson then declared the meeting to be adjourned. y t: Wl lam E. J son, Mayor-Commiss oner O Attest: Q t �1 E. R. Clay, F' City Clerk- ud .tor O O O • • • -4-