American Samoa § 6.0301 - Nomination of candidates

§ 6.0301. Nomination of candidates

(a) Candidates for membership in the House of Representatives shall be nominated by a petition, in the form established by the Chief Election Officer, signed by at least 25 registered voters of the election district from which he seeks election. Candidates for Delegate to the United States House of Representatives shall also be nominated by petitions, in forms established by the Chief Election Officer, signed by at least 300 registered voters of the Territory. (b) Blank petitions shall be made available by the Chief Election Officer. (c) Executed petitions shall be filed with the Chief Election Officer no later than 4:30 p.m. on the 1st of September of each election year; or, in the case of a special election, no later than 4:30 p.m. on the 60th day prior to the special election. (d) The Chief Election Officer shall determine whether the nominated candidates are eligible for election, and shall cause ballots to be printed for each office bearing the names of all qualified nominees. (e) All candidates for representative approved by the Chief Election Officer shall be entitled to one copy each of the list of qualified electors in his election district and the copy shall be made available no later than 24 hours after the close of voter registration in that election district. (f) All candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and Delegate to the United States House of Representatives are entitled to a list of all the qualified electors in the Territory within 10 days after the close of registration for the Territory. Amendments: 1977 Substituted “Chief Election Officer” for “Election Commissioner” throughout section. Subsection (e) added “for representative” at beginning and substituted “qualified electors” for “registered voters”. Subsection (f): added. 1980 Subsection (c): changed “15 October” to “1 September”. Case Notes: Affirmative duty of chief election officer to determine candidates eligibility. King v. Watson, ASR (1978). Under Statute providing that blank forms for petitions required of candidates for elective office should be distributed by election officer, and also providing that eligibility of candidates should be determined after they had filed the required petitions, election officer had no authority to withhold blank forms from a prospective candidate whom he did not believe to be eligible for election. A.S.C.A. §§ 6.0301(b), (d). Siofele v. Shimasaki, 8 A.S.R.2d 81 (1988).