Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 7103 – Candidates
(a) The county committee for each political party eligible to place candidates on the general election ballot for the most recent past general election may nominate a candidate for the special election by submitting a nomination to the Department office conducting the special election no later than 25 days before the date of the special election. If the legislative district up for election includes the area of more than 1 county, the county committees for each county shall agree on 1 candidate and the committee for the county where the candidate resides shall submit the nomination to the Department office conducting the special election.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 7103
- Ballot: means those portions of cardboard, paper or other material to be placed within the ballot frames of a voting machine or to be used for absentee voting in order to list the names of the offices to be voted for, the name of each candidate and the designation of the party by which the candidate is nominated, a space for the voter to write in the name of any candidate of that voter's choice for any office, and the statement of any question submitted with provision for a "yes" or "no" vote. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
- County committee: means the regularly organized and constituted county committee or governing authority of a political party. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
- Department: means the State Department of Elections, consisting of the State Board of Elections and such staff as the Board shall appoint under this title, but shall not include the State Election Commissioner. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
- Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- political party: means any political organization which elects a state committee and officers of a state committee, by a state convention composed of delegates elected from each representative district in which the party has registered members, and which nominates candidates for electors of President and Vice-President, or nominates candidates for offices to be decided at the general election. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
- Signature: means both a written signature conforming to § 302(23) of Title 1 and a digital or electronic signature that is an electronic sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a document and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the document as specified by the State Election Commissioner. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
- State committee: means the regularly organized and constituted statewide governing authority of a political party in this State. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
- Unaffiliated candidate: means any individual who files a declaration as a candidate for any office to be decided at the general election and who is not affiliated with any political party and has not been thus affiliated for at least 3 months prior to the filing of that individual's declaration. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
(b) A person wishing to run as an unaffiliated candidate who is eligible to hold the office up for election must file a petition in support of that person’s own candidacy containing the signatures of at least 1% of all voters who are registered in the legislative district as of the first day of the month preceding the month during which the vacancy was created. The person must file the petition with the Department office conducting the special election no later than 25 days before the day of the special election.
(c) If a party eligible to place candidates on the ballot does not have a county committee in the county in which the special election is to be held, the party’s state committee may make the nomination.
(d) Nominating certificates shall be in writing and, in each case, shall contain the name of each person nominated, the person’s residence and the office for which the person is nominated. The chairperson for the party making such certificates shall add thereto the chairperson’s own signature and place of residence and shall acknowledge such certificate before an officer duly authorized to administer oaths, and a certificate of such acknowledgment shall be fixed to the instrument.
(e) Notwithstanding any other subsection of this section, nominations or petitions for a special election to be held on the date of the general election under the provisions of § 7102(b) of this title shall be filed no later than September 1 or 5 days following the vacancy, whichever is later, if the office is on the general election ballot, or on the date set by the Department if the election is to be held in December following the general election.
77 Del. Laws, c. 389, § ?1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § ?1; 79 Del. Laws, c. 275, § ?97; 82 Del. Laws, c. 170, § 51;