(1) Any person who meets the qualifications set forth in Chapter 6, Section 24 of this charter may be nominated to be a candidate for election to the city council.

(2) The name of a candidate shall be printed upon the ballot whenever a petition and written acceptance of nomination have been filed with the city recorder. The council may prescribe the form of petition and acceptance of nomination and by ordinance may provide the procedure for nomination of candidates, but in lieu of such ordinance the procedure provided in this section shall apply.

(3) The petition shall be signed by no fewer than 50 electors. No elector shall sign more than one such petition for the same office, but if more than one such petition is signed the signature shall be valid only on the first petition filed.

(4) The signatures to a nomination petition need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate paper of the petition shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof, indicating the number of signers on the page and stating that each signature appended thereto was made in his/her presence and is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. With each signature shall be stated the place of residence of the signer, identified by its street and number or other description sufficient to identify it.

(5) All nomination papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the recorder as one instrument according to the time line established by the Secretary of State.

(6) The recorder shall make a record of the exact time each petition is filed and shall take and preserve the name and address of the person by whom it is filed.

(7) Within five days after the filing, the recorder shall notify the candidate and the person who filed the petition whether or not it is found to be signed by the required number of qualified electors. If it is found insufficient, the recorder shall return it immediately to the person who filed it, with a statement certifying wherein the petition is insufficient. Within the regular time allowed for the filing of nomination petitions, such a petition may be amended and filed again as a new petition, or a different petition may be filed for the same candidate.

(8) Any eligible person placed in nomination as hereinbefore provided shall have his/her name printed on the ballots for election if, within five days after notification to him/her by the recorder of the nomination, an acceptance of nomination is filed with the recorder on his/her behalf.

(9) The nominating petition for a successful candidate for election to the council shall be preserved in the office of the recorder until the expiration of the term of office for which the candidate is elected.