Yuma voters OK city charter amendments

Yuma voters overwhelmingly supported the two propositions on the ballots that were related to the city charter. Residents voted on the propositions in a special election held in conjunction with the general election on Tuesday. The charter can only be amended with a vote of the majority of citizens.

As of 10:30 p.m., Proposition 412 had received 19,683, or 72.81% of the votes, and Proposition 413 had netted 19,717, or 73.13% of the votes.

Proposition 412 amends the city charter to conform to state law by consolidating elections to even-numbered years and aligning city elections for mayor, council members and municipal judges with the state’s election cycle.

Proposition 413 amends the city charter to align the deadline for the submission of primary election nomination petitions with state elections law.

Mayor Doug Nicholls previously summed up the amendments that appeared on the ballot: “So basically the elections will be shifted to odd number years for the mayor and municipal judge and align the nominating petition deadlines to the state deadline.”

The council asked citizens to vote only on these amendments that address the timing of elections to comply with new state law. A council-appointed Charter Review Committee made the recommendations after reviewing the charter chapter by chapter earlier in the year.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and so many races on the ballot, the council decided not to further burden citizens with more charter amendment proposals. Instead, the council struck three of the seven initial recommended changes to the charter that were introduced in an ordinance in May.

Nicholls noted that other proposed amendments would be left for when things go back to being “more regular.”

The current count reflects ballots cast, including early ballots that have been processed and counted and poll results from all voting centers.

However, some ballots remain to be counted, including those dropped off at boxes the last two days, plus the “late early” ballots and any provisional ballots received on Tuesday. The city will release those totals once they become final either Thursday or Friday.

Votes will become final and official once canvassed by the Yuma City Council.