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Cranking up on candidate filing

Next week, we see who file for local government offices up for election this year (and legislative spots that need filling). Next week is candidate filing time.

A few points of interest, as Secretary of State Sam Reed‘s office points out:

For the second time since the U.S. Supreme Court last year upheld the Top 2 Primary system adopted by citizen initiative in 2004, the Declaration of Candidacy form will allow candidates to self-describe their political preference, but this will not mean that the person is nominated by or supported by a party.

The form candidates submit will allow up to 16 characters to provide the name of the party a candidate prefers. Candidates cannot include profanity or imply or state that they are nominated or endorsed by a political party or that a party approves of or associates with them.

The regulations don’t rule out candidates trying to wedge in additional information about themselves, such as “Anti-war Dem” or “Pro-life G.O.P”, “Evans Republican” or “Jackson Democrat.” But Reed, the state’s chief elections officer, said he hopes candidates will simply list the actual name of a political party and not try to cram in personal or political information.

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