County clerk outlines new primary date, filing deadlines and petition signature requirements

Celeste Riley, Cumberland County Clerk, provided candidates and the public with information about recent changes to election filing rules and deadlines at the board’s Feb. 24 meeting.

Riley said the state has changed the primary-election date to June 10. She advised that the filing deadline for party-affiliated candidates seeking placement on the primary ballot is March 24 at 4 p.m. She also said the deadline for unaffiliated (independent) candidates to file petition signatures for the general-election ballot is June 10 at 4 p.m., the date of the primary.

On signature requirements, Riley said countywide candidates in Cumberland County will need 100 signatures to qualify for the ballot and that for some county filings there is a 50-signature minimum; municipal-candidate petitions continue to be filed with municipal clerks and have their own signature rules. Riley said petition-filing must be done at the county courthouse (not at the mall) and that further details are posted on the county clerk’s website and her office’s Facebook page.

Riley recommended prospective candidates contact their municipal clerk or the Division of Elections for further questions about legislative or assembly filings handled at the state level. She said the changes will make getting on the ballot more difficult and urged interested candidates to begin collecting signatures promptly.

The clerk did not provide a new statutory citation in the meeting; her instructions reflect changes she said were enacted by the Legislature and posted by elections officials.