Because of the number of candidates running for City Council, as explained previously there will be first a Preliminary, or Primary, election on Tuesday Sept. 12. To cull the number of At-Large Councilor candidates from nine to eight, and the number of candidates for Ward 2 Councilor from four to two. Then there will be two months of campaigning before the Final election on Tuesday Nov. 7 to select four At-Large Councilors and one Ward 2 Councilor.
Only two weeks before the Primary sample ballots have been released by the Salem City Clerk office. The late release is excusable as Primary Elections for City Council are virtually unheard of, so the City Clerk has little experience. There are two different ballots, one for just Ward 2 residents listing candidate names for both Ward and At-Large election, and one for the other six wards in Salem listing just the candidate names for the At-Large election.
Sorry for the crummy images, but they are scans of xeroxes of the original.
This blog will soon review the issues before making its endorsements for the Primary Election. Then will do the issues and endorsements cycle all over again during the run up to the November elections.
Streets of Gallows Hill 