Candidates for the office of Mayor or member of Council shall be nominated only by petition. No primary election shall be held for the election of Council members, but a partisan primary election shall be held for the election of the Mayor. No nomination except as prescribed by this section shall be effective. The name of any elector of the city shall be printed as a candidate on the regular municipal election ballot, in the case of candidates for Council, or on the primary election ballot, in the case of candidates for Mayor, if there is filed with the election authorities as prescribed by general law a petition in accordance with the following provisions:
(a) Such petition shall state the name and place of residence of each person whose name is presented for a place upon the ballot, and that he or she is a qualified candidate for the office sought.
(b) Such petition shall be signed by electors of the city equal in number to not less than two percent (2%) of the total number of voters voting at the last regular municipal election.
(c) Such petition shall contain a provision that each signer thereof thereby pledges to support and vote for the candidate whose name is presented on said ballot, and that each signer shall subscribe to a number of petitions for each office no greater than the total number of positions for that office to be filled by said election. Each such elector signing a petition shall add to the elector’s signature the elector’s place of residence with street and number and the date of signing. All signatures shall be made with ink or indelible pencil.
(d) The signatures of all petitioners need not be appended to one paper, but to each separate paper there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof, stating the number of signers thereto, that each person signed in the circulator’ s presence on the date stated therein, and that the circulator believes in good faith that the signature is that of the person whose name it appears to be. Signatures shall be collected on said petitions not earlier than one hundred and ten (110) days prior to the date of the holding of said regular municipal election, in the case of candidates for Council, or said primary election in the case of candidates for Mayor.
(e) All nominating papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the election authorities as one instrument not less than ninety (90) days prior to the date of holding of said regular municipal election, in the case of candidates for Council, or the date of said primary election, in the case of candidates for Mayor.
(f) Each petition shall name a committee of three authorized electors to represent the signers of such petition. If the elector nominated by such petition shall, for any reason, cease to be a candidate, a majority of such committee shall select an elector to fill such vacancy and shall thereupon make and file with the election authorities prescribed by law a certificate, setting forth the name of the new nominee, the office for which nominated, the name of the person for whom the new nominee is to be substituted and such other information as is required to be given in an original petition for nomination. The certificate so made shall be executed, acknowledged and sworn to by the majority of the committee in the manner prescribed for the original petition for nomination, and shall be filed with the election authorities prescribed by general law at least seventy-six (76) days before the date of election and shall have the same force and effect as an original petition for nominations: and the new nominee shall file his or her acceptance of such candidacy with the election authorities along with said certificate, otherwise his or her name shall not appear on the ballot.
(g) In the case of candidates for Council, a non-partisan election of Council shall be held on the date of each regular municipal election. The five candidates each receiving the most votes cast shall be deemed the winners of the election, and shall be entitled to assume their offices pursuant to Sections 36 and 98.
(h) The primary election for the office of Mayor shall be held on the second (2nd) Tuesday of September. The two candidates each receiving the most votes cast in the primary election shall proceed to a runoff election to be held on the date of the first regular municipal election following the primary election. The person receiving the most votes cast in said regular municipal election shall be declared the winner of said election, and shall be entitled to assume the Mayor’s office pursuant to § 112.
(i) All primary or regular municipal election ballots shall be in conformity with the provisions contained in Section 33.
(Amended 6-6-89, 11-6-90; 11-5-96; 11-5-02; Ord. 53-12, 7-31-2012; Ord. 05-16, passed 7-19-2016)