South Carolina signature requirements

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This page details South Carolina signature requirements. In many states, the signatures of registered voters must be collected to place candidates or initiatives on the ballot. However, for candidates, filing fees are sometimes required or accepted in lieu of signatures.

Nomination by political party

The Democratic and Republican parties nominate candidates by primary. Primaries to nominate candidates for the General Election are held on the second Tuesday in June. Candidates must receive a majority of votes to be nominated. If no candidate receives a majority of votes for a particular office, a primary runoff between the top two candidates is held two weeks later. Primaries and runoffs are conducted by the state and county election commissions.

Candidates who file with the Republican or Democratic parties must pay a filing fee. The filing fee is one percent of the annual salary of the office multiplied by the number of years in the term of office or $100, whichever is greater. This fee is applied to funding the party's primary.

The Constitution, Green, Independence, Labor, Libertarian, United Citizens, and Working Families parties nominate candidates by convention. Conventions are conducted by the parties.

A candidate may be nominated by more than one political party. Such candidates are commonly referred to as "fusion candidates."

Nomination by petition

To be nominated by petition, a candidate must file a nominating petition containing the valid signatures of at least 5% of the active, registered voters in the geographical area the office represents. The 5% is based on the total number of registered voters in the geographical area 120 days prior to the election. No petition requires more than 10,000 signatures. (Petitions for some local offices may have specific requirements set by state law that are different from the 5% requirement.)

Filing fees

Candidates running for office in South Carolina are required to submit a filing fee at the time of filing for office. The fees are designated to offset costs associated with the state primaries. Candidates filing with parties that nominate by convention and candidates filing by petition do not pay a state-mandated filing fee.

Filing deadlines

2012

See also: Signature requirements and deadlines for 2012 U.S. Congress elections

See also: Signature requirements and deadlines for 2011 state government elections

In 2012, the last day to circulate and file nomination petitions for all candidates was 12:00 p.m. on February 16.

Ballot measures

South Carolina ballot measures come in the one variety:

• legislatively-referred constitutional amendment - A constitutional amendment that appears on a state's ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.

South Carolina is one of the 24 states that do not have initiative and referendum.

See also

• State executive official elections, 2012
• Signature requirements and deadlines for 2012 U.S. Congress elections
• Signature requirements and deadlines for 2012 state legislative elections

External links

• South Carolina Secretary of State, Election Calendar
• South Carolina Secretary of State, Candidate Information