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The city of Ripon, in San Joaquin County, has decided to cancel their November election.
In a town of 15,000 people, located about an hour south of Sacramento, things are quiet.
“Nobody ran against the incumbents," Mike Restuccia, an appointed city council member and Mayor of Ripon, said.
So quiet, the city decided to forgo its own November election.
“It’s maybe not a real common procedure," Daniel de Graff, a Ripon city councilman, said.
Council member de Graff said since no one was running against two of their incumbent city council members seeking re-election, they voted to just appoint them instead.
"In lieu of a normal election, we can appoint them to those positions," de Graff said.
This is the first time in 34 years the city has voted to cancel their own election. They can do this with no other issues or tax initiatives on the ballot. Both the San Joaquin County Registrar and the Ripon City Clerk confirmed, this is allowed and it’s going to save the city $31,000.
"That gets paid to the county and other places that actually validate and certify the election," Restuccia said. "In this case, we just don’t have to be part of that."
If they moved forward with holding an election, it would have given write-in candidates a chance, although Restuccia, one of the two council members appointed, tells ABC10 it’s highly unlikely.
“You have spell the name exactly correctly, get the right person," Restuccia said. "The chances of that happening are probably nil."
“If someone who hasn’t taken the time to go get their signatures and file their paperwork on time, probably isn’t engaged enough to know what’s going on," de Graff said. "Probably isn’t prepared enough to be on city council."
And they believe, it's a sign things are going well in Ripon.
“It has nothing to do with Dean (Uecker) and I, it has to do with the city council as it is, we work as a team, it could have been any two of the three city council members up for re-election, I don’t think they would have been challenged by anybody because of the way the city is running," Restuccia said.
Ripon voters will still receive a ballot for state issues this fall.
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