§ 17-12.1-4 - Presidential candidates.
SECTION 17-12.1-4
§ 17-12.1-4 Presidential candidates.– (a) Any person seeking the endorsement of a national political party for whicha primary is being held shall, during the eighty-eighth (88th) through andincluding the ninetieth (90th) day preceding the presidential preferenceprimary being held, provide written notification to the secretary of state ofhis or her intention to run in the presidential preference primary. Thenotification shall include the candidate's name and address and a statementaffirming their eligibility, under the laws and Constitution of the UnitedStates, to serve, if elected, in the office of President of the United States.
(b) Upon receipt of the notification referred to insubsection (a) of this section, the secretary of state shall, by four o'clock(4:00) p.m. on the next business day, prepare petition papers for candidateswho are eligible to serve in the office of President of the United States,clearly marked with the candidate's name, party designation, and the office thecandidate seeks.
(2) The petition papers of a candidate for president shall besigned, in the aggregate, by at least one thousand (1,000) eligible voters andshall be submitted on or before four o'clock (4:00) p.m. in the afternoon ofthe sixty-ninth (69th) day before the presidential preference primary to thelocal board of the city or town where the signers appear to be voters, and thepetition papers shall be checked, processed, and certified to the secretary ofstate by the local boards before four o'clock (4:00) p.m. in the afternoon ofthe fifty-fourth (54th) day before the presidential preference primary. Whennomination papers have been duly certified by the appropriate local boards ofcanvassers, they shall be conclusively presumed to be valid, unless writtenobjections to them are made as to the eligibility of the candidate or thesufficiency of the nomination papers or the signatures on them. All objectionsshall be filed with the state board of elections by four o'clock (4:00) p.m. onthe next business day after the last day fixed for local boards to filenomination papers with the secretary of state. Nothing in this section shall beconstrued to prevent the secretary of state from disqualifying a candidatebased on the determination of the secretary of state that the nomination papersor the signatures on them are invalid or insufficient.
(c) The decision of the state board shall be rendered notlater than four o'clock (4:00) p.m. on the forty-sixth (46th) day before thepresidential preference primary and shall immediately be certified by the stateboard to the secretary of state.
(d) If any candidate whose name has been announced as apresidential nominee does not thereafter wish his or her name to appear on theballot, the candidate shall, at least forty-three (43) days prior to the datefor the primary, file an affidavit with the secretary of state stating his orher name may not be placed on the ballot and the secretary of state shall notplace that candidate's name on the ballot. Names of delegates committed to thewithdrawn candidate, who are otherwise qualified, shall appear on the ballot asuncommitted.