Livermore cancels two uncontested races; Marchand appointed mayor

Livermore will not hold a race for mayor this November. At a special meeting Thursday, Aug. 20, the City Council voted 4-0 to cancel the uncontested races for mayor and City Council District 1 and to appoint the only qualified candidate for each office.

John Marchand was appointed mayor. Evan Branning was appointed to the District 1 seat; he was absent from the vote.

One council race is left on the ballot. Two candidates qualified for District 2, and voters in that district will choose between them Tuesday, Nov. 3.

For everyone else in Livermore, the practical effect is a shorter ballot. The mayoral contest will not appear on Livermore ballots at all, and the District 1 contest will not appear for voters in that district.

The city expects the two cancellations to save at least $250,000 in election costs.

The sequence that got here started earlier in the month. The candidate nomination period closed Friday, Aug. 7. At that point one candidate had qualified for mayor, one for District 1, and two for District 2. The City Clerk’s Office then published a notice of the uncontested races and scheduled the special council meeting to consider the appointments.