A state judge determined Monday that Miami city commissioners’ vote last month to move this fall’s election to November 2026 was unconstitutional because it required voter permission.
Emilio T. Gonz lez, a mayoral candidate, won the case before Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit judge Valerie R. Manno Schurr. After the City Commission voted 3 to 2 to postpone the election, claiming that this was done to increase turnout and save money, he filed a lawsuit in late June. It would give elected local leaders an additional year in office, according to critics.
Candidates who had previously filed to run and several voters who claimed the procedure was not democratic had publicly criticized the postponement.
Due to term restrictions, Joe Carollo, a municipal commissioner, and Mayor Francis X. Suarez are expected to step down at the end of this year. Mr. Suarez signed the proposed ordinance into law, while Mr. Carollo voted against delaying the election.
The judge wrote that the commissioners and the mayor could not legally alter the date of a municipal election by ordinance. She decided that moving the election from an odd-numbered year to an even-numbered one would equal to changing the city’s charter, which would need voter approval.
The judge referenced the Miami-Dade County charter, which, in accordance with the Florida Constitution, regulates all of the county’s communities, including Miami.
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