Candidates for Mayor and member of Council shall be nominated at a partisan primary held on the date specified by the election laws of the State of Ohio in the odd-numbered years in which they are to be elected. Each person desiring to become a candidate for a party nomination to such offices to be voted for at a primary election shall, not later than 4:00 p.m. of the ninetieth day before the day of such primary election, file with the Board of Elections of the county within which the Municipality is located or within which the major portion of the population thereof, as ascertained by the next preceding Federal census, is located, if the Municipality is situated in more than one county, a declaration of candidacy and nominating petitions, which shall contain signatures of electors of the same political party as the candidate as required by the election laws of the State of Ohio. Each person desiring to become a candidate for Mayor or member of Council as an independent shall file a statement of candidacy and nominating petitions with the Board of Elections of the county within which the Municipality is located or within which the major portion of the population thereof, as ascertained by the next preceding Federal census, is located, if the Municipality is situated in more than one county, containing signatures of electors as required by the election laws of the State of Ohio, not later than 4:00 p.m. of the ninetieth day before the day of such primary election. The procedure established by the Ohio election laws for filing and voting shall be followed, except as modified by this Charter. An elector may sign only as many petitions for Mayor or Council member as there are places to be filled at the regular Municipal election. In the event only one party fields candidates for a primary election and no independent candidate files within the time set forth herein, thereby resulting in a non-contested Regular Municipal Election, the primary election shall not take place and those candidates shall be elected at the Regular Municipal Election as set forth in Section 8.02. All electors shall be permitted to vote in said election regardless of their partisan affiliation.
(Amended Nov. 5, 1974; Nov. 4, 2003)