A Florida judge has ordered the City of Miami to hold its regular elections later this year, as called for under the city charter, overruling commissioners who had attempted to delay the vote and to extend some of their own terms — as well as the mayor — for an extra year.
Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr said the home rule charter that governs the city says election dates can only be changed by a referendum vote, and the commissioners’ attempt to do it without putting it to voters is illegal.
The city commission had voted 3-2 to move elections from their current odd years to even years, matching them up with federal elections. They decided that meant the current mayor and two commission members, whose terms were set to expire after this year’s election, would get another year in office to match the new schedule.
Emilio Gonzalez, a former senior official in the Bush Homeland Security Department and a candidate for mayor, called that a power grab and sued.
Judge Schurr agreed with him.
“The court declares that the City of Miami cannot change the dates of municipal elections or terms of offices for the city’s elected officials without amending the City of Miami municipal charter through the process set forth in section 6.03 of the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter, which requires approval by the electorate,” the judge wrote.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier had weighed in against the commission’s changes, saying they were illegal.
But the city defended its move, insisting its relocation of the election date didn’t technically violate its charter because it didn’t actually amend the charter.
Judge Schurr said that was the problem — it didn’t amend the charter because it couldn’t do so, and thus is couldn’t legally change the election date.
“The city’s contention that its ordinance did not ‘amend’ its city charter is nothing more than semantic slight of hand,” she wrote.
Current Mayor Francis Suarez is term-limited.
His father Xavier Suarez, a former mayor himself, told Miami media Monday he now plans to get into the race.
The city commission’s decision to change the election dates drew national attention, and local mockery.
Some of the city’s many residents who hailed from countries run by strongman leaders complained that they fled their homes to get away from such tactics.
Mr. Gonzalez, who came from Cuba as a young boy, agreed.
“This is not just a victory for me — it is a triumph for all voters in the City of Miami and across Miami-Dade County who believe in upholding our charter and the rule of law,” he said.
