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An election commission is hereby created consisting of the city council. The councilman receiving the highest number of votes at the last preceding election shall be the chairman. The commission shall have charge of all activities and duties required of it by state law and this charter relating to the conduct of elections in the city. The compensation of election personnel shall be determined in advance by the council. In any case where election procedure is in doubt, the election commission shall prescribe the procedure to be followed.
Special city elections shall be held when called by resolution of the council at least sixty days in advance of such election, or when required by this charter or the general laws of the state. Any resolution calling a special election shall set forth the purpose of such election. No more than two special city elections shall be held in any one calendar year.
The method of nomination of all officers provided for in the charter who are elected by the electors of the city shall be by petition. Such petition shall be signed by not less than 50 nor more than 100 qualified registered electors of the city. In the case of candidates for councilman, the petitioners shall reside in the district for which the nomination is made. No person shall sign his name to a greater number of petitions for any one office than there are persons to be elected to said office at the following regular city elections. If the signature of any person appears on more petitions than permitted by this section, such signature shall not be counted on any one of the petitions so signed for that office. The signatures shall be executed according to state law. Each signer shall indicate next to his signature the date of his signing, and the place of his residence, giving the street and number or other description sufficient to identify it.
Nominating petitions shall be filed with the clerk at least thirty days prior to the date of holding the primary election. On the last date to file, no petition shall be accepted at an hour later than 5:00 p.m. The clerk shall publish notice of the last day and time permitted for filing nominating petitions, at least one week before, and not more than three weeks before that date.
The form of petition shall be substantially as that required by state law for state and county officers, except for references to political parties. Official petition forms shall be prepared and furnished by the clerk. Before the clerk shall furnish any nomination petitions to any person, he shall enter thereon in ink the name of the person desiring to become a candidate for office, or the person in whose behalf the petition is to be circulated and the name of the office for which he is to be a candidate.
The clerk shall accept for filing nominating petitions on official blanks containing the required number of signatures for candidates having those qualifications required for elective city officials by this charter. When petitions are filed by persons other than the person whose name appears thereon as a candidate, they may be accepted for filing only when accompanied by the written consent of the person in whose behalf the petition or petitions were circulated. The clerk shall, forthwith after the filing of a petition, determine the sufficiency of the signature on each petition filed, and if he finds that any petition does not contain the required number of legal signatures of registered electors, he shall immediately notify the candidate in writing of the insufficiency of his petition. Each petition which is found by the clerk to contain the required number of signatures of registered electors for candidates shall be marked `In Order', with the date thereof, and he shall so notify the candidate whose name appears thereon, in writing.
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