22-4-402. Petition; form; validity.
(a) Any group of persons desiring to form a new political party within this state shall file a petition with the secretary of state not later than June 1 in any general election year in which the party seeks to qualify for the general election ballot.
(b) The petition shall be approved by the secretary of state prior to circulation and shall conform in substance to the following:
PETITION FOR FORMATION
OF A POLITICAL PARTY
I know the contents of this petition including the names of the provisional party officers and request that the ________ party be printed on the ballot for the next general election. I am a registered elector for the next primary and general election. (This statement shall appear at the head of each petition page.)
PROVISIONAL PARTY OFFICERS
NAME ADDRESS
CHAIRPERSON __________________________________________
TREASURER ____________________________________________
PETITIONERS
(Signature) (Printed Name)
(Residence) (Date)
1. ___________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________
VERIFICATION BY CIRCULATORS
I, ...., do hereby certify that I am a circulator of this petition, and I solely and personally circulated this petition, that all the signatures appearing herein were made in my presence from ....(month) ....(day), ....(year) through ....(month) ....(day), ....(year), and to the best of my knowledge and belief such signatures are those of the persons whose names they purport to be.
.... (signature)
.... (residence address)
(c) The name of the party printed on the petition shall consist of not more than two (2) words and shall not be identical to, nor similar to, the name of any existing qualified political party as determined by the secretary of state, nor to the word "independent".
(d) To be valid, a petition shall contain the names and signatures of registered electors equal in number to not less than two percent (2%) of the total number of votes cast for the office of United States house of representatives in the last general election.
(e) The petition shall be circulated no earlier than April 1 of the year preceding the general election.