A vacancy that occurs in a candidacy for an elected office in a local political subdivision may be filled in accordance with the requirements of this section if:
Terms Used In Utah Code 20A-1-510.1
Ballot: means the storage medium, including a paper, mechanical, or electronic storage medium, that records an individual voter's vote. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Election: means a regular general election, a municipal general election, a statewide special election, a local special election, a regular primary election, a municipal primary election, and a special district election. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Election officer: means :
(a)
the lieutenant governor, for all statewide ballots and elections;
Local political subdivision: means a county, a municipality, a local district, or a special school district. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Vacancy: means :
(a)
except as provided in Subsection (75)(b), the absence of an individual to serve in a position created by state constitution or state statute, whether that absence occurs because of death, disability, disqualification, resignation, or other cause ; or
(b)
in relation to a candidate for a position created by state constitution or state statute, the removal of a candidate due to the candidate's death, resignation, or disqualification. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
(a)
a nonpartisan primary election is held for the office;
(b)
the vacancy occurs after the date of the primary election but before:
(i)
for a county office, August 31; or
(ii)
for all other offices, 65 days before the day of the applicable general election; and
(c)
after the vacancy occurs, the number of remaining candidates for the office is less than or equal to the number of open positions to be filled for that office in the applicable general election.
(2)
An election officer shall:
(a)
fill a candidate vacancy described in Subsection (1) by certifying the next available candidate for the office for the general election ballot who received the highest number of votes in the primary election without receiving a sufficient number of votes to qualify for the general election ballot; and
(b)
immediately notify the candidate described in Subsection (2)(a) that the candidate is certified for the general election ballot.
