Town elections — Malabar, Florida

Malabar voters elect five council members from five single-member districts, each chosen only by voters of that district, plus a mayor elected at large by the whole town.

Section 2.02 of the Malabar Town Charter sets that structure, and its history note records that the Election Referendum on November 8, 2016 created single district voting (Charter of the Town of Malabar). The charter preamble describes the town's practice of vesting decision-making power in a five member Town Council elected by five single districts, and Section 1.06 names the form of government the Strong Council Plan. The charter itself was first adopted in a Malabar referendum on November 5, 1985.

The Town Clerk runs the process locally: Charter Section 3.03 makes the town clerk the chief elections officer of the town, and candidates file their papers with that office (Charter Section 3.03). Malabar adopted the general election laws of the state by reference in Section 7-1 of its code, so state rules govern everything the charter and town ordinances do not cover (Malabar Code Chapter 7). The Brevard County Supervisor of Elections publishes the Malabar contests, qualifying window and qualified candidates alongside the county ballot (Brevard Supervisor of Elections).

The Town Clerk's office is in Malabar Town Hall at 2725 Malabar Road, open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM (Malabar Town Clerk). Last verified: October 13, 2026, on the Town of Malabar website and the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections website.

Malabar elects Districts 1, 2 and 3 in even-numbered years, Districts 4 and 5 in odd-numbered years, and the mayor every four years, all on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November.

Town Code Section 7-3 states that elections for districts 1, 2, and 3 shall be held in every even-numbered year, and that elections for mayor shall be held every four years beginning with the year 2000 (Malabar Code Section 7-3). Charter Section 2.07 gives council members two-year terms, limits a council member to three consecutive terms in any capacity, and limits the mayor to no more than two consecutive four-year terms (Charter Section 2.07).

The officeholders and term years above come from the Malabar Mayor and Town Council page, which lists Steve Rivet as Mayor with a term expiration of 2028 and the three even-year district seats expiring in 2026 (Malabar Mayor and Town Council). The odd-year cycle last ran in 2025, when the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections listed District 4 incumbent Frederick Heiler and District 5 incumbent Mary Hofmeister as qualified on 08/19/2025 and unopposed (Brevard 2025 Municipal Candidates).

Malabar's District 1, 2 and 3 council seats were open for qualifying from July 28 to August 11, 2026, and only the District 2 race drew more than one qualified candidate.

The Brevard County Supervisor of Elections 2026 candidate list shows the Town of Malabar, District 1, 2, and 3 Council Member contests with a municipal qualifying period of July 28, 2026 to August 11, 2026, and states that the 2026 General Election will be held on November 3, 2026 (Brevard 2026 Candidates). That window matches the Malabar charter rule of filing not less than 84 days and not more than 98 days before the election.

On the county list, District 1 has a single qualified candidate marked unopposed, who is not Marisa Acquaviva, the District 1 councilor the town lists today; District 2 lists incumbent Wayne Abare, qualified 07/29/2026, and a second candidate qualified 07/30/2026; and District 3 lists incumbent Cliff Dykes, qualified 07/31/2026 and unopposed. Malabar does not print uncontested races: Charter Section 2.07 says that when only one candidate qualifies for a seat, the name shall not appear on the ballot and that candidate is automatically elected.

Under that rule the only Malabar council race on the November 3, 2026 ballot is the two-way District 2 contest, while the District 1 and District 3 winners take their seats without a vote (Charter Section 2.07). New council members take office at a meeting held within three days of the election under Malabar Code Section 7-3, and the full council then elects its chairperson and vice-chairperson at the first regular meeting after the town election.

A Malabar council candidate must be a qualified elector who has lived in the town at least six months, live in the district, and file a petition with fifteen valid district signatures at the Town Clerk's office.

Charter Section 2.03 sets the council rules: any qualified elector of the town who has been a resident of the town for at least six months before qualifying may file a petition signed by fifteen valid signatures of the district, pay a filing fee if required, and submit a sworn statement giving name, address, occupation and willingness to serve (Charter Section 2.03). Malabar Code Section 7-2 adds that a council candidate must reside, on the date of qualification, within the district for the seat sought (Malabar Code Section 7-2).

The bar for mayor of Malabar is higher. Charter Section 2.04, as amended by the referendum of November 6, 2012, requires the mayor to be at least thirty years of age, an elector of the town, and a Malabar resident for at least one year before qualifying, with a petition signed by fifteen qualified electors from anywhere in the town filed in the same 84 to 98 day window (Charter Section 2.04). A mayoral candidate may reside at any location within the town under Code Section 7-2.

Malabar petitions have their own form rules in Charter Section 2.05: pages may be separate, each page carries an affidavit by the circulator stating the number of signatures and that each was signed in the circulator's presence, signatures must be in ink or indelible pencil, and every signer adds the date and an address. Under Section 2.06 the Malabar Town Council is the judge of candidate qualifications, reviews each candidate's papers at a council meeting after filing, and may subpoena witnesses, with its decision subject to court review.

Malabar's five council districts are defined in Town Code Section 7-2 by township, range and section and by lists of individual census blocks, last redrawn by Ordinance 2017-04 in May 2017.

Section 7-2 lists the blocks for each Malabar district, from seventeen census block numbers in District 1 to just two, 120090652311021 and 120090652313017, in District 5. Section 7-7 says the districts were drawn from 2010 Decennial United States Census data, updated with certificates of occupancy issued between April 1, 2010 and March 10, 2017 (Malabar Code Sections 7-2 and 7-7). The Exhibit A map referenced in Section 7-6 is not printed in the code and is kept on file at the Malabar town offices.

The code also fixes a rule for future maps. Section 7-5 says following Ordinance 2017-04 the Malabar districts shall be verified and reapportioned in accordance with the results of the Decennial United States Census tabulation, that there shall remain five districts within the Town of Malabar, and that no district shall deviate in population by more than ten percent from any other district (Malabar Code Section 7-5). Because the code lists 2010 census blocks rather than street names, the practical way to confirm which Malabar district a parcel sits in is the Exhibit A district map on file at the Malabar town offices.

The Malabar Town Clerk and election inspectors certify the returns, the Town Council receives them within three days, and early vacancies are filled by council appointment or a special election depending on time left.

Malabar Code Section 7-4 requires the result of every town election to be certified in duplicate, signed by the town clerk and a majority of the election inspectors, and transmitted to the town council at a meeting held within three days after the election, where the canvass is declared the official result (Malabar Code Section 7-4). The candidate with the highest number of votes wins, and Charter Section 2.07 settles a tie by draw.

If a Malabar seat or the mayor's office becomes vacant with less than one year before the next regular town election, the remaining council chooses a successor by majority vote; with more than a year left, the seat is filled by special election held not sooner than 60 days nor more than 90 days after the vacancy, under Charter Section 2.09 (Charter Section 2.09). Malabar voters also keep two direct tools in the charter: recall of town officials under Section 6.01, and charter amendments placed on the ballot by a petition signed by ten percent of the registered electorate under Section 9.01.