§ 20A-9-404. Municipal primary elections.

(1)

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, candidates for municipal office in all municipalities shall be nominated at a municipal primary election.

(b) Municipal primary elections shall be held:

(i) consistent with Section 20A-1-201.5, on the second Tuesday following the first Monday in the August before the regular municipal election; and

(ii) whenever possible, at the same polling places as the regular municipal election.

(2) If the number of candidates for a particular municipal office does not exceed twice the number of persons needed to fill that office, a primary election for that office may not be held and the candidates are considered nominated.

(3)

(a) For purposes of this Subsection (3), "convention" means an organized assembly of voters or delegates.

(b)

(i) By ordinance adopted before the May 1 that falls before a regular municipal election, any third, fourth, or fifth class city or town may exempt itself from a primary election by providing that the nomination of candidates for municipal office to be voted upon at a municipal election be nominated by a political party convention or committee.

(ii) Any primary election exemption ordinance adopted under the authority of this subsection remains in effect until repealed by ordinance.

(c)

(i) A convention or committee may not nominate more than one group of candidates or have placed on the ballot more than one group of candidates for the municipal offices to be voted upon at the municipal election.

(ii) A convention or committee may nominate a person who has been nominated by a different convention or committee.

(iii) A political party may not have more than one group of candidates placed upon the ballot and may not group the same candidates on different tickets by the same party under a different name or emblem.

(d)

(i) The convention or committee shall prepare a certificate of nomination for each person nominated.

(ii) The certificate of nomination shall:

(A) contain the name of the office for which each person is nominated, the name, post office address, and, if in a city, the street number of residence and place of business, if any, of each person nominated;

(B) designate in not more than five words the political party that the convention or committee represents;

(C) contain a copy of the resolution passed at the convention that authorized the committee to make the nomination;

(D) contain a statement certifying that the name of the candidate nominated by the political party will not appear on the ballot as a candidate for any other political party;

(E) be signed by the presiding officer and secretary of the convention or committee; and

(F) contain a statement identifying the residence and post office address of the presiding officer and secretary and certifying that the presiding officer and secretary were officers of the convention or committee and that the certificates are true to the best of their knowledge and belief.

(iii) Certificates of nomination shall be filed with the clerk not later than 80 days before the municipal general election.

(e) A committee appointed at a convention, if authorized by an enabling resolution, may also make nominations or fill vacancies in nominations made at a convention.

(f) The election ballot shall substantially comply with the form prescribed in Title 20A, Chapter 6, Part 4, Ballot Form Requirements for Municipal Elections, but the party name shall be included with the candidate's name.

(4)

(a) Any third, fourth, or fifth class city may adopt an ordinance before the May 1 that falls before the regular municipal election that:

(i) exempts the city from the other methods of nominating candidates to municipal office provided in this section; and

(ii) provides for a partisan primary election method of nominating candidates as provided in this Subsection (4).

(b)

(i) Any party that was a registered political party at the last regular general election or regular municipal election is a municipal political party under this section.

(ii) Any political party may qualify as a municipal political party by presenting a petition to the city recorder that:

(A) is signed, with a holographic signature, by registered voters within the municipality equal to at least 20% of the number of votes cast for all candidates for mayor in the last municipal election at which a mayor was elected;

(B) is filed with the city recorder by May 31 of any odd-numbered year;

(C) is substantially similar to the form of the signature sheets described in Section 20A-7-303; and

(D) contains the name of the municipal political party using not more than five words.

(c)

(i) If the number of candidates for a particular office does not exceed twice the number of offices to be filled at the regular municipal election, no partisan primary election for that office shall be held and the candidates are considered to be nominated.

(ii) If the number of candidates for a particular office exceeds twice the number of offices to be filled at the regular municipal election, those candidates for municipal office shall be nominated at a partisan primary election.

(d) The clerk shall ensure that:

(i) the partisan municipal primary ballot is similar to the ballot forms required by Sections 20A-6-401 and 20A-6-401.1;

(ii) the candidates for each municipal political party are listed in one or more columns under their party name and emblem;

(iii) the names of candidates of all parties are printed on the same ballot, but under their party designation;

(iv) every ballot is folded and perforated so as to separate the candidates of one party from those of the other parties and so as to enable the elector to separate the part of the ballot containing the names of the party of his choice from the remainder of the ballot; and

(v) the side edges of all ballots are perforated so that the outside sections of the ballots, when detached, are similar in appearance to inside sections when detached.

(e) After marking a municipal primary ballot, the voter shall:

(i) detach the part of the ballot containing the names of the candidates of the party he has voted from the rest of the ballot;

(ii) fold the detached part so that its face is concealed and deposit it in the ballot box; and

(iii) fold the remainder of the ballot containing the names of the candidates of the parties for whom the elector did not vote and deposit it in the blank ballot box.

(f) Immediately after the canvass, the election judges shall, without examination, destroy the tickets deposited in the blank ballot box.

Amended by Chapter 402, 2013 General Session