(a) Each page of a nominating petition proposing a candidate for an office to be filled at a regular election shall be submitted to the appropriate town clerk or to the Secretary of the State not later than four o’clock p.m. on the ninetieth day preceding the day of the regular election.

(b) Each page of a nominating petition proposing a candidate for an office to be filled at a special election, except petitions filed under § 9-216, shall be submitted to the appropriate town clerk or to the Secretary of the State not later than four o’clock p.m. on the seventieth day prior to such election, unless (1) such special election is held in conjunction with a regular election and (2) the writ of such special election is issued at least fourteen days before the final day for the filing of primary petitions for municipal offices to be filled at such regular election pursuant to § 9-405, in which case the deadline for submitting such nominating petition pages shall be the same as the deadline for such submission in connection with such regular election as provided in subsection (a) of this section.

(c) Each page of a nominating petition proposing a candidate at an election shall be so submitted either (1) to the town clerk of the town in which the signers reside, or (2) to the Secretary of the State, in which case the Secretary of the State shall submit the petition pages to the appropriate town clerk for the purpose of certifying the signatures on such pages.

(d) On such last day for submitting such nominating petition pages, in each town in which an election is to be held, the office of the town clerk shall open not later than one o’clock p.m. and remain open until at least four o’clock p.m., and the town clerk or his assistant town clerk shall be present therein.