California: With election fatigue setting in, L.A. tees up another vote | Los Angeles Times

The races for mayor and other top city offices so underwhelmed Angelenos, fewer than one-fifth of registered voters bothered to cast ballots. So, why don’t we have another election in a couple of months? Say, July 23? I’m not kidding. Because no candidate for the 6th Council District seat earned more than 50% of the votes Tuesday, residents in the district will have to trudge back to the polls for the fourth time in nine months to choose a replacement for former Councilman Tony Cardenas. The office became vacant when Cardenas won a seat in Congress last November. The runoff will pit Cindy Montañez, who collected 43.5% of the votes, against Nury Martinez, who received 23.9%.
So why didn’t the city hold the 6th District primary in March, when all the other council primaries were held? Because Cardenas didn’t step down until Jan. 2, the day before he was sworn in as a member of Congress. According to city officials, there wasn’t enough time left before Feb. 4, the day vote-by-mail ballots were scheduled to go out for the March 5 primary.
Had Cardenas given up his seat right after the November congressional election — which he won with 74% of the vote — the race to pick his successor could conceivably have been consolidated with the regularly scheduled council elections. The council may still have chosen to hold off until May, however; City Clerk June Lagmay had recommended in November that the council delay the special election until May 21 to give prospective candidates more time to get ready to run.
Full Article: With election fatigue setting in, L.A. tees up another vote – latimes.com.