CHARTER
OF THE
CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO

ARTICLE IV - ELECTIONS

SECTION 24.   TIME OF HOLDING ELECTIONS.

Regular municipal elections shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the odd numbered years. Primary elections shall be held at the time provided by the general election laws of the state. Any matter which, by the terms of the Charter, may be submitted to the electors of the city at any special election may be submitted at a primary election or at a regular municipal election.

SECTION 25.   BALLOTS.

All elections and the voting devices used therefor as provided for in this charter shall be without party marks or designations. The names of the candidates to be voted upon shall be rotated as to position on the voting devices in accordance with the general laws of the State of Ohio.

SECTION 26.   PETITIONS FOR PLACES ON PRIMARY BALLOTS.

Candidates for the office of city commissioner and the office of mayor shall be nominated only by a non-partisan primary election. The name of any elector of the city shall be printed upon the primary ballot for the office of city commissioner or the office of mayor if there is filed with the election authorities a petition in accordance with the following provisions, to-wit:

(a) Such petitions shall state the name and place of residence of each person whose name is presented for a place upon the ballot and that such person is a candidate for the office of city commissioner for, or the office of mayor of, The City of Springfield, Ohio. No person may be a candidate for the office of city commissioner and the office of mayor in the same election.
(b) Such petitions shall be signed by two hundred fifty (250) electors of the municipality.
(c) Such petitions shall contain a provision that each signer thereto thereby pledges himself to support and vote for the candidate or candidates whose names are therein presented for a place upon the ballot, and each elector signing a petition shall add to his signature his place of residence, with street and number, and date of signing, and may subscribe to one nomination for each of the places to be filled and no more. All signatures shall be made with ink or indelible pencil.
(d) The signatures of all the petitioners need not be appended to one paper, but to each separate paper there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof stating the number of signers thereto, that each person signed in his presence on the date mentioned, and that the signature is that of the person whose name it purports to be.
(e) Such petitions shall not be signed by any elector more than one hundred ten (110) days prior to the day of such primary election and such petition shall be filed with the election authorities not less than ninety (90) days previous to the day of such election.
(f) The number of signatures which may be filed by any one candidate shall not exceed five hundred (500) in number.
(Amended 5-7-02.)

SECTION 27.   ACCEPTANCE.

Any person whose name has been submitted for candidacy by any such petition shall file his acceptance of such candidacy with the election authorities not later than fifty-five (55) days previous to such election; otherwise, his name shall not appear upon the ballot.

SECTION 28.   ELECTION.

The candidates for nomination to the office of city commissioner who shall receive the greatest vote in such primary election shall be placed on the ballot at the next regular municipal election in number not to exceed twice the number of vacancies in the city commission to be filled. The candidates at the regular municipal election, equal in number to the places to be filled, who shall receive the highest number of votes at such regular municipal election, shall be declared elected. A tie between two or more candidates for the office of city commissioner shall be decided by lot under the direction of the election authorities, as provided by the general election laws of the state.

The candidates for nomination to the office of mayor who shall receive the two greatest number of votes shall be placed on the ballot at the next regular municipal election. The candidate who receives the greater number of votes at such regular municipal election shall be declared elected.
(Amended 5-7-02.)

SECTION 29.   PRIMARY.

Should there be filed with the proper election authorities petitions in accordance with Section 26, and acceptance filed by the persons whose names are submitted for candidacy by any such petitions in accordance with Section 27, in number not to exceed twice the number of vacancies in the commission to be filled in the case of the office of city commissioner or, in the case of the office mayor, [sic] only one or two of such petitions, thereupon the non-partisan primary election, provided for in Section 26, shall automatically be dispensed with and such candidtes for nomination shall become the nominees and shall be placed on the ballot for the corresponding office at the next regular municipal election.
(Amended 5-7-02.)

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