[1] Under current election laws, in order to be eligible to be elected mayor, one must be a resident of the city for at least one year prior to filing for the office of mayor.
[citation needed] The rules of the original 1846 city charter, in effect for the city's earliest elections, required that, to be elected, a candidate needed to receive a majority of the vote in a mayoral election.
If no candidate received a majority, or if the winning candidate refused to take office, further election(s) would be held until an election produced a candidate with a majority of the vote.
[2] From 1846 to 1857, mayors served for a one-year term, expiring on the third Tuesday in March.
From 1857 to 1872, the mayor's term expired on the last day of December.