Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/332945
Calls to Linda Holland, coordinator of the petition drive, were not returned by deadline. The group has conducted a full-court press to obtain the necessary signatures, working the polls during the March Sarasota County School Board special 1-mill tax referendum, going door-to-door, staffing a booth at the Sarasota County Fair and, most recently, sending blank petitions by mail to registered city voters. If the group misses the June 23 deadline, it has several options. It can continue gather- ing signatures with the hope it can qualify for the city primary election in March 2015 or the possible city runoff in May 2015. However, these are city district elections; if one of the three districts has just a solitary candidate, there will be no voting in that race. Therefore, the election would not be "general" because one district's voters would not be participat- ing. The May runoff is even less likely to have all three districts' voters going to the polls. If the 2015 city elections will not work as an alternative, organizers could hold out for the November 2016 presidential election. The current city charter says only that the elec- tion can be "no earlier than 90 days [after an ordinance approving the ballot language is passed] … and no later than the next regular election." % Past Sarasota City Commission candidate Linda Holland has been coordinating the petition drive for a new city charter initiative. Photo by Norman Schimmel Sarasota News Leader June 20, 2014 Page 10