(1) Candidates for municipal offices shall be nominated, without regard to affiliation, by petition on forms supplied by the clerk. A petition of nomination may consist of one or more sheets, but it shall contain the name and address of only one candidate and shall indicate the office to which the candidate is seeking election. (2) Nomination petitions may be circulated and signed beginning on the ninety-first day and ending on the seventy-first day prior to the day of election. Each petition must be signed by registered electors in the following numbers: (a) For a candidate in a city, at least twenty-five registered electors residing within the city; (b) For a candidate from a ward within a city, at least twenty-five registered electors residing in the candidate's ward; (c) For a candidate in a town, at least ten registered electors residing within the town; and (d) For a candidate from a ward within a town, at least ten registered electors residing in the candidate's ward. (3) Each registered elector signing a petition shall sign such registered elector's own signature and shall print or, if such elector is unable to do so, shall cause to be printed such elector's legal name, the address at which such registered elector resides, including the street name and number, the city or town, the county, and the date of the signing. The registered elector, or the person printing on behalf of the registered elector, may use any abbreviations that reasonably identify the residence of the registered elector, and the date the registered elector signed the petition. The circulator of each nomination petition shall make an affidavit that each signature thereon is the signature of the person whose name it purports to be and that each signer has stated to the circulator that the signer is a registered elector of the municipality or municipality and ward, as the case may be, for which the nomination is made. The signature of each signer of a petition shall constitute prima facie evidence of his qualifications without the requirement that each signer make an affidavit as to his qualifications. (4) No petition is valid that does not contain the requisite number of signatures of registered electors. The clerk shall inspect timely filed petitions of nomination to ensure compliance with this section. Such inspection may consist of an examination of the information on the signature lines for patent defects, a comparison of the information on the signature lines with a list of registered electors provided by the county, or any other method of inspection reasonably expected to ensure compliance with this section. Any petition may be amended to correct or replace those signatures that the clerk finds are not in apparent conformity with the requirements of this section at any time prior to sixty-three days before the day of election. (5) No registered elector shall sign more than one nomination petition for each separate office to be filled in his municipality or municipality and ward, as the case may be. Each office of the governing body that is to be filled by the electorate shall be considered a separate office for the purpose of nomination. In municipalities in which offices of the governing body are filled both by election from wards and election at large, an elector may sign a nomination petition for each office to be filled from his ward and also for each office to be filled by election at large. If a registered elector's signature appears on more than one nomination petition for a particular office, the clerk may utilize the date of signing indicated on the nomination petitions to determine which signature was valid when affixed to the nomination petitions. If the date of signing does not clarify which signature was valid, all signatures of such registered elector shall be rejected. (6) Each nomination petition shall be filed with the clerk no later than the seventy-first day prior to the day of election. Every petition shall have endorsed thereon or appended thereto the written affidavit of the candidate accepting the nomination and swearing that the candidate satisfies the requirements set forth in section 31-10-301 to be a candidate and hold office in the municipality. The acceptance of nomination shall contain the place of residence of the candidate and the name of the candidate in the form that the candidate wishes it to appear on the ballot. The candidate's name may be a nickname or include a nickname but shall not contain any title or degree designating the business or profession of the candidate. (7) The clerk shall cause all nomination petitions to be preserved for a period of two years. All such petitions shall be open to public inspection under proper regulation by the clerk with whom they are filed. (8) Repealed.
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