In a last minute hail mary plot twist, the School Charter Commission Election will be held tomorrow as scheduled. After Judge Anderson denied both a motion for reconsideration and a motion to stay, the City of Manchester filed a writ of prohibition to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire.
The Supreme Court granted the emergency stay, meaning the election will go on as scheduled, pending further judicial review.
Earlier this morning, Judge Anderson issued an order the required the City to either print Mark Warden’s name on the School Charter Commission ballot or reschedule that particular race in the election to a different date, with a new filing period.
The same judge then denied two motions by the City to reconsider or stay the order.
The City was faced with an impossible task of printing new ballots in 24 hours time. Alternatively, they could have rescheduled the election – but not really. The RSA passed this year allowing the Charter Commission mandated the election to be held tomorrow in conjunction with the City’s municipal elections. That means there was no room in statute for the City to reschedule this election.
What happens next is unclear, but we’ll keep you posted here.