HB 5980 Summary

• Removes county clerk from partisan election system and establishes a nonpartisan primary election for county clerk candidates to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in August before each general November election.

• Candidates for county clerk must file nominating petitions signed by qualified electors or pay a $100 filing fee by 4 p.m. on the fifteenth Tuesday before the August primary election.

• Top vote-getters from the nonpartisan primary (up to twice the number of positions to be filled) advance as nominees to the general November election.

• County clerk elections begin in 2016 and occur every fourth year thereafter, with the term starting January 1 following election and continuing until a successor is elected and qualified.

• Eliminates county clerk from partisan candidate replacement provisions and updates ballot placement requirements to reflect county clerk as a nonpartisan office rather than a partisan position.