LA GRANDE — La Grande residents will not only be casting their votes for city council and mayor in November, but also deciding the future of elections in the city.

Ballot Measure 31-121 asks voters to amend the language of the La Grande City Charter. If the measure passes, it would make three revisions to the charter — all of which would impact how future elections are run.

The proposed amendment would eliminate the council position numbers; residents would cast their votes for their top three candidates. The terms of the six councilors are staggered so that three seats at a time are decided in an election.

Currently, candidates run for a specific position on the council — denoted as Position 2 through Position 7 (Position 1 is the mayor’s seat). However, those positions have no real distinction from one another.

This change aims to reduce confusion for both candidates and voters. It also could lessen the adversarial nature of the elections. It would, however, remove the element of a candidate running with the intent to face off against an incumbent or specific opponent.

The second proposed change would eliminate the language requiring a primary election. La Grande City Manager Robert Strope explained that currently if three or more candidates file for any position, the city holds the primary election and then the top two candidates advance to the general election.

Finally, the proposal would allow the council to fill midterm vacancies through appointment for the remainder of the term.

Under the current city charter, council resignations are filled one of two ways depending on the length remaining in that councilor’s term. If less than two years remain on the term, the council appoints someone to fill the vacancy. If the remainder of the term is two or more years, the position has to be filled by election.

However, if the election process is changed from candidates running for specific positions to candidates running fat large, filling vacancies in this manner could create confusion.

For example, if there was an election where there were four councilor seats open — three regular four-year terms and a two-term balance — and six people running, how would it be determined who got the two-year term?

The proposed amendment would eliminate this scenario by having the council always fill vacancies, which Strope said is how most other cities in Union County handle filling midterm vacancies.

If the ballot measure does not pass, then there would be no changes to the city charter.

Residents will find inserts in their upcoming October water and sewer bill outlining the proposed changes, according to City Recorder Stacey Stockhoff.

Questions can be directed to Stockhoff or City Manager Robert Strope. Stockoff can be reached via email at sstockhoff@cityoflagrande.org or over the phone at 541-962-1351. Strope can be reached at rstrope@cityoflagrande.org or 541-962-1309.

Those looking to review the current charter or the proposed revisions can do so online by visiting https://tinyurl.com/v6frjs52. Physical copies are also available by contacting Stockhoff.