(a) An application to reserve a party designation with the Secretary of the State and to form a party designation committee may be made at any time after November 3, 1981, by filing in the office of the secretary a written statement signed by at least twenty-five electors who desire to be members of such committee.

(b) The statement shall include the offices for which candidates may petition for nomination under the party designation to be reserved but shall not include an office if no elector who has signed the application is entitled to vote at an election for such office.

(c) The statement shall include the party designation to be reserved which (1) shall consist of not more than three words and not more than twenty-five letters; (2) shall not incorporate the name of any major party; (3) shall not incorporate the name of any minor party which is entitled to nominate candidates for any office which will appear on the same ballot with any office included in the statement; (4) shall not be the same as any party designation for which a reservation with the secretary is currently in effect for any office included in the statement; and (5) shall not be the word “none”, or incorporate the words “unaffiliated” or “unenrolled” or any similarly antonymous form of the words “affiliated” or “enrolled”.

(d) The statement shall include the names of two persons who are authorized by the party designation committee to execute and file with the secretary statements of endorsement required by section 9-453o and certificates of nomination as required by section 9-460.

(e) The secretary shall examine the statement, and if it complies with the requirements of this section, the secretary shall reserve the party designation for the offices included in the statement and record such reservation in the office of the secretary. The reservation shall continue in effect from the date it is recorded until the day following any regular election at which no candidate appears on the appropriate ballot for that office under that party designation.

(P.A. 81-447, S. 1; P.A. 83-475, S. 24, 43; P.A. 87-472, S. 1, 14; P.A. 02-89, S. 12.)

History: P.A. 83-475 amended Subsec. (e) to provide for termination of party designation on day following first election at which no candidate appears on the appropriate ballot for a particular office under the party designation; Sec. 9-378m transferred to Sec. 9-453u in 1985; P.A. 87-472, in Subsec. (c) increased maximum number of letters in a reserved party designation, from 20 to 25, and added Subdiv. (5) re prohibition on use of antonymous form of words “affiliated” or “unenrolled”, and added Subsec. (f) re cancellation of reserved party designations prohibited under Subsec. (c)(5) of this section; P.A. 02-89 amended Subsec. (e) to delete an exception re Subsec. (f) and deleted as obsolete Subsec. (f) re the cancellation of party designations reserved prior to June 24, 1987, that are prohibited by Subsec. (c)(5).