The candidates for elective office shall be nominated from the city at large by petitions, blanks for which shall be furnished by the clerk. The candidate may use his own petition blanks, providing they conform substantially with state statutes. Each such petition shall be signed by not less than twenty (20) nor more than forty (40) registered electors of the city, and shall be filed at the clerk's office before four o'clock (4:00) p.m., local time, on or before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in August, (the August primary date), prior to the date of such election.
Each elector signing shall add his residential street and number and the date of signature. No electors shall sign petitions for more candidates for any office than the number to be elected to such office, and should he do so, the signatures bearing the most recent date shall be invalidated, and if he should sign more than one on the same date, neither shall be validated. No petition shall be left for signatures in any public place unless accompanied by the circulator of the petition. When a petition is filed by persons other than the person whose name appears thereon as a candidate, it may be accepted only when accompanied by the written consent of the candidate.