The board has to enact the plan into local law or request the State Legislature to enact a general law to place the charter referendum on the ballot in November.

The whole charade was really a way of stopping another referendum on Yankee Stadium, since a charter referendum blocks any other referendum on the ballot.

Under election rules, a charter referendum on this November's ballot would automatically bounce Mr. Vallone's stadium vote (or any other referendum) until the next election.

"I think Democrats are very optimistic about the possibility of defeating Mike Bloomberg, particularly since the charter referendum," Mr. Wolfson said.

The charter referendum was on the minds of many voters filing into P.S. 66 yesterday, most of them middle-aged businesspeople or the elderly.

And last-minute electioneering by both sides on the charter referendum swayed few, Professor Siegel said.

A charter referendum would be on the ballot in November.

On December 9, 1963, Ordinance 92533 submitted Ordinance 92497 to the voters by charter referendum as part of a general election on March 10, 1964.

Mr. Brown agreed, but Mr. Schwarz had a different audience in mind - the minority civic leaders who have endorsed a delay on the charter referendum.

Both mailings came under attack by civic groups who said that taxpayer dollars should not be used to support or oppose the charter referendum, but simply to inform voters about it.