Candidates for all elective offices provided for by this Charter shall be nominated only by a non-partisan primary election. The name of any qualified elector shall be printed upon the primary ballot when there is filed with the Board of Elections of Scioto County, Ohio, a petition in accordance with the following provisions:
(a) Such petitions shall state the name and place of residence of each person whose name is presented for a place upon the ballot, and the name of the office which he seeks.
(b) Such petitions shall be signed by not less in number than fifty (50) qualified electors of the municipal corporation if for the nomination of a candidate for an office to be filled by election from the City at large, and by not less than fifty (50) qualified electors of the ward, if for the nomination of a candidate for an office to be filled by election from a ward.
(c) Such petition shall contain a provision that each elector signing a petition shall add to his signature his place of residence, with street and number, ward, voting precinct, date of signing, and may subscribe to no more nominating petitions of candidates for said office then the number of candidates to be nominated at such primary election. All signatures on such petitions shall be written in ink or indelible lead pencil.
(d) The signatures on such petitions 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 said signatures were written in his presence on the date mentioned, and are the signatures of the persons whose signatures they purport to be; and that he resides at the address appearing below his signature hereon.
(e) Such petitions shall not be signed by any qualified elector more than one hundred and five days prior to the day of such primary election, and any such petitions bearing any signature placed thereon before that time shall be rejected as entirely invalid.
(f) Signers of such nominating petitions shall insert therein the names and addresses of five qualified electors of the respective City or ward in which the candidate named in such petition is to be nominated, as a committee which may fill vacancies caused by death or withdrawal.
(g) Before such nominating petitions are filed as herein provided, the nominee named therein shall subscribe his acceptance of such nomination thereon, and also declare thereon that if nominated and elected he will qualify for the office which he seeks. In the absence of such acceptance the nominee's name shall not be printed on the ballot.
(h) All separate papers comprising a nominating petition of a candidate shall be assembled and filed at the same time as one instrument with the Board of Elections of Scioto County, Ohio, not later than the date and time established by the general election laws of the State of Ohio, in odd numbered years. At the time of filing a nominating petition for an office as herein provided, the candidate designated therein shall pay to the election officials with whom it is filed a fee of one-half of one percent of the annual salary of such office, not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.00). Candidates whose names are written on the ballot, as provided by the general election laws, and who are nominated, shall pay the same fee as candidates who file their nominating petitions. Payment of this fee by such candidates shall be deemed a condition precedent to granting their certificates of nomination. All such fees shall forthwith be paid by the official receiving them into the Treasury of the County to the credit of the General Fund of the County; and in no case shall the filing fee be returned to a candidate.
(i) Only persons who are qualified electors (registered voters) residing in the City, may circulate a nominating petition for any office to be filled by election from the city at large, and only persons who are qualified electors (registered voters) residing in the ward, may circulate a nominating petition for any office to be filled by election from the ward. The circulator is required to sign a statement, under oath, made under penalty of election falsification, that he witnessed the affixing of every signature, that all signers were to the best of his knowledge and belief qualified to sign, and that every signature is the unassisted signature of the person whose signature it purports to be. Further, if a circulator knowingly permits an unqualified person to sign a petition paper or permits a person to write a name other than his own on a petition paper, that petition paper is invalid; otherwise, the signature of a person not qualified to sign shall be rejected, but shall not invalidate the other valid signatures on the paper.
(Amended 11-5-74; 5-7-02; 11-4-03; 11-5-13.)