Tampa Monitor: Special election for the late Gwen Henderson's District 5 city council seat is set for September
An unfortunate reality the city must face after the death of Councilmember Gwen Henderson is having a special election to fill her seat. Per the Charter, with more than 15 months until the end of the term, an election is required. Inside the 15 months, the remaining council members chose the successor.
Hillsborough County’s Supervisor of Elections has set the dates, with the election scheduled for Sept. 9 with early voting Sept. 4-7. If no candidate breaks 50%, a runoff election will be held Oct. 28. If you want to vote in either of those elections you must be registered to vote by Aug. 11.
As for candidates, qualifying period is Aug. 11-15, with pre-qualifying starting July 28. In order to be eligible “Candidates shall have been a resident of the City of Tampa for one year immediately preceding the commencement of the term of office and shall also have been a resident of their district for six months immediately preceding the commencement of their term of office.”
Additionally, to appear on the ballot, a candidate must either pay a qualifying fee of $4,511.52 or collect 1008 signatures and pay $0.10 per signature for verification. (The state does provide an option to file an undue burden affidavit if you can’t afford that cost.) The signatures must be registered voters in District 5 and the number is derived from a formula that requires 0.25% of the City of Tampa population. The supervisor used census data of 403,361 persons, according to the ACS 1Y2023.
https://www.cltampa.com/news/tampa-monitor-special-election-for-the-late-gwen-hendersons-district-5-city-council-seat-is-set-for-september-20241894