§ 31-10-302 — Nomination of municipal officers

(1) Candidates for municipal
offices shall be nominated, without regard to affiliation, by petition on forms
supplied by the clerk. A petition of nomination may consist of one or more sheets,
but it shall contain the name and address of only one candidate and shall indicate
the office to which the candidate is seeking election.

(2) Nomination petitions may be circulated and signed beginning on the
ninety-first day and ending on the seventy-first day prior to the day of election.
Each petition must be signed by registered electors in the following numbers:

(a) For a candidate in a city, at least twenty-five registered electors residing
within the city;

(b) For a candidate from a ward within a city, at least twenty-five registered
electors residing in the candidate's ward;

(c) For a candidate in a town, at least ten registered electors residing within
the town; and

(d) For a candidate from a ward within a town, at least ten registered
electors residing in the candidate's ward.

(3) Each registered elector signing a petition shall sign such registered
elector's own signature and shall print or, if such elector is unable to do so, shall
cause to be printed such elector's legal name, the address at which such registered
elector resides, including the street name and number, the city or town, the county,
and the date of the signing. The registered elector, or the person printing on behalf
of the registered elector, may use any abbreviations that reasonably identify the
residence of the registered elector, and the date the registered elector signed the
petition. The circulator of each nomination petition shall make an affidavit that each
signature thereon is the signature of the person whose name it purports to be and
that each signer has stated to the circulator that the signer is a registered elector
of the municipality or municipality and ward, as the case may be, for which the
nomination is made. The signature of each signer of a petition shall constitute prima
facie evidence of his qualifications without the requirement that each signer make
an affidavit as to his qualifications.

(4) No petition is valid that does not contain the requisite number of
signatures of registered electors. The clerk shall inspect timely filed petitions of
nomination to ensure compliance with this section. Such inspection may consist of
an examination of the information on the signature lines for patent defects, a
comparison of the information on the signature lines with a list of registered
electors provided by the county, or any other method of inspection reasonably
expected to ensure compliance with this section. Any petition may be amended to
correct or replace those signatures that the clerk finds are not in apparent
conformity with the requirements of this section at any time prior to sixty-three
days before the day of election.

(5) No registered elector shall sign more than one nomination petition for
each separate office to be filled in his municipality or municipality and ward, as the
case may be. Each office of the governing body that is to be filled by the electorate
shall be considered a separate office for the purpose of nomination. In
municipalities in which offices of the governing body are filled both by election
from wards and election at large, an elector may sign a nomination petition for each
office to be filled from his ward and also for each office to be filled by election at
large. If a registered elector's signature appears on more than one nomination
petition for a particular office, the clerk may utilize the date of signing indicated on
the nomination petitions to determine which signature was valid when affixed to the
nomination petitions. If the date of signing does not clarify which signature was
valid, all signatures of such registered elector shall be rejected.

(6) Each nomination petition shall be filed with the clerk no later than the
seventy-first day prior to the day of election. Every petition shall have endorsed
thereon or appended thereto the written affidavit of the candidate accepting the
nomination and swearing that the candidate satisfies the requirements set forth in
section 31-10-301 to be a candidate and hold office in the municipality. The
acceptance of nomination shall contain the place of residence of the candidate and
the name of the candidate in the form that the candidate wishes it to appear on the
ballot. The candidate's name may be a nickname or include a nickname but shall not
contain any title or degree designating the business or profession of the candidate.

(7) The clerk shall cause all nomination petitions to be preserved for a period
of two years. All such petitions shall be open to public inspection under proper
regulation by the clerk with whom they are filed.

(8) Repealed.

Legislative History

Source: L. 75: Entire title R&RE, p. 1043, � 1, effective July 1. L. 77: IP(2) and (6) amended, p. 1461, � 1, effective July 1. L. 81: (6) amended, p. 1499, � 4, effective July 1. L. 87: (4) amended, p. 329, � 86, effective July 1. L. 91: (3) and (4) amended, p. 755, � 24, effective April 4. L. 93: (1) and (6) amended, p. 1708, � 4, effective July 1. L. 95: (8) added, p. 858, � 104, effective July 1. L. 99: (1) amended, p. 164, � 24, effective August 4. L. 2000: (3), (4), (5), and (8) amended, p. 796, � 16, effective August 2. L. 2004: (8) amended, p. 1523, � 5, effective May 28. L. 2015: IP(2), (4), and (6) amended and (8) repealed, (HB 15-1130), ch. 230, p. 854, � 2, effective August 5. L. 2018: (1) amended, (SB 18-107), ch. 104, p. 789, � 3, effective August 8.