Sec 16-703. Qualifications of candidates for delegate; nominations

A. Candidates for the office of delegate to the convention shall be qualified electors of this state.

B. Nominations shall be by petition signed by not less than one thousand electors of the state qualified to vote at the election and shall be filed with the secretary of state.

C. Nominations shall be without party or political designation, but the nominating petitions shall contain a statement by the candidate to the effect that he favors ratification, or that he opposes ratification, and nominating petitions shall not be accepted unless the statement is contained therein.

D. The only nomination petitions which shall be effective shall be those of the fifteen nominees favoring ratification whose nominating petitions were first filed with the secretary of state, and who are each residents of a county different from the other, and those of the fifteen nominees opposing ratification whose nominating petitions were first filed with the secretary of state, and who are each residents of a county different from the other.

E. Within ten days after the petitions are filed, the secretary of state shall certify the candidates of each group to the board of supervisors of the respective counties.

F. The petitions shall be filed with the secretary of state not less than twenty days before the proclaimed date of the election.