No candidate for elective school board membership may be nominated unless such person is a resident voter of the school district and unless a nominating petition has been filed on such person’s behalf with the business manager of the school district. The nominating petition shall be filed no later than five p.m. on the Friday thirty-nine days before the date of the election. The petition is considered filed if it is mailed by registered mail by five p.m. on the Friday thirty-nine days before the election. A formal declaration of a candidate shall be signed by the candidate before the circulation of the petition. The petition shall be signed by not less than twenty voters of the school district or if the school district is divided into school board representation areas, the petition shall be signed by not less than twenty voters who reside within the school board representation area. No petition may be circulated until ten weeks prior to the election. There shall be added by either the signer or the circulator the signer’s place of residence and date of signing. The petition shall be verified under oath by the person circulating it. The filing of the nominating petition shall constitute nomination and will entitle the candidate to have the candidate’s name placed on the ballot for the term the candidate specifies on the petition only upon verification signed by the business manager that the nominating petition contains the minimum number of signatures and that the candidate is a resident voter.

Source: SDC 1939, § 15.2510; SL 1947, ch 67; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 9, § 10; SL 1957, ch 64, § 2; SL 1959, ch 64; SDC Supp 1960, § 15.2310; SL 1968, ch 47, § 1; SL 1975, ch 128, § 33; SL 1979, ch 113, § 2; SL 1981, ch 129, § 1; SL 1985, ch 119, § 2; SL 1995, ch 90, § 2; SL 1996, ch 103, § 1; SL 2004, ch 75, § 7; SL 2007, ch 89, § 2, eff. Feb. 15, 2007; SL 2009, ch 69, § 11; SL 2010, ch 74, § 24; SL 2015, ch 77, § 16 rejected Nov. 8, 2016.