CHAPTER VI

ELECTIONS

SECTION 23. REGULAR ELECTIONS. Regular city elections shall be held at the same times and places as biennial general state elections, in accordance with applicable state election laws.

SECTION 24. NOTICE OF REGULAR ELECTION. The recorder, pursuant to directions from the council, shall give at least ten days’ notice of each regular city election by posting notice thereof at a conspicuous place in the city hall and in one public place in each voting precinct of the city. The notice shall state the officers to be elected, the ballot title of each measure to be voted upon, and the time and place of the election.

SECTION 25. SPECIAL ELECTIONS. The council shall provide the time, manner, and means for holding any special election. The recorder shall give at least ten days’ notice of each special election in the manner provided by the action of the council ordering the election.

SECTION 26. REGULATION OF ELECTIONS. Except as this charter provides otherwise and as the council provides otherwise by ordinances relating to elections, the general laws of the state shall apply to the conduct of all city elections, recounts of the returns therefrom, and contests thereof.

SECTION 27. CANVASS OF RETURNS. In all elections held in conjunction with state and county elections, the state laws governing the filing of returns by the county clerk shall apply. In each special city election the returns therefrom shall be filed with the recorder on or before noon of the day following, and not later than five days after the election the council shall meet and canvass the returns. The results of all elections shall be entered in the record of the proceedings of the council. The entry shall state the total number of votes cast at the election, the votes cast for each person and for and against each proposition, the name of each person elected to office, the office to which he has been elected, and a reference to each measure enacted or approved. Immediately after the canvass is completed, the recorder shall make and sign a certificate of election of each person elected and deliver the certificate to him within one day after the canvass. A certificate so made and delivered shall be prima facie evidence of the truth of the statements contained in it.

SECTION 28. TIE VOTES. In the event of a tie vote for candidates for an elective office, the successful candidate shall be determined by a public drawing of lots in a manner prescribed by the council.

SECTION 29. COMMENCEMENT OF TERMS OF OFFICE. The term of office of a person elected at a regular city election shall commence the first of the year immediately following the election.

SECTION 30. OATH OF OFFICE. All officers elected or appointed under this charter, before entering upon the duties of their office, must make and file with the recorder an oath of office to the following effect:

"I, A.B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of this state, and that I will, to the best of my ability, faithfully perform the duties of the office of _______ of the City of Columbia City during my continuance in office, so help me God." If the person affirms, instead of the last clause, there must be added: "And this I promise under the pains and penalties of perjury."

SECTION 31. NOMINATIONS. A qualified elector who has resided in the city during the 12 months immediately preceding an election may be nominated for an elective city office to be filled at the election. The nomination shall be by a petition that specifies the office sought and shall be in a form prescribed by the council. The petition shall be signed by not fewer than 20 electors. No elector shall sign more than one petition for each office to be filled at the election. If he does so, his signature shall be valid only on the first sufficient petition filed for the office. The signatures to a nomination petition need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate paper of the petition shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof, indicating the number of signers of the paper and stating that each signature appended thereto was made in his presence and is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. Opposite each signature shall be stated the signer’s place of residence, identified by it street and number or other sufficient designation. All nomination papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the recorder as one instrument not earlier than 150 nor later than 75 days before the election. The recorder shall make a record of the exact time at which each petition is filed and shall take and preserve the name and address of the person by whom it is filed. If the petition is not signed by the required number of qualified electors, the recorder shall notify the candidate and the person who filed the petition within five days after the filing. If the petition is insufficient in any other particular, the recorder shall return it immediately to the person who filed it certifying in writing wherein the petition is insufficient. The deficient petition may be amended and filed again as a new petition, or a substitute petition for the same candidate may be filed, within the regular time for filing nomination petitions. The recorder shall notify an eligible person of his nomination, and that person shall file with the recorder his written acceptance of nomination, in such form as the council may require, within five days of notification of nomination. Upon receipt of the acceptance of nomination, the recorder shall cause the nominee’s name be printed on the ballots. The petition of nomination for a successful candidate at an election shall be preserved in the office of the recorder until the term of office for which the candidate is elected expires.

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