BENTON - Candidates for Scott County offices can sleep in Feb. 24: a random drawing will determine the order in which opening-day filers appear on the primary election ballot Aug. 3.
The random drawing procedure has been used in the past and worked very well, according to Scott County Clerk Rita Milam.
Milam issued guidelines to be used by candidates filing for county offices Tuesday.
Candidates filing on the first day with the county clerk's office will draw numbers to determine the order their names will be appear on the Aug. 3 primary ballot. After the first day of filing, candidates will be placed on the ballot in the order they file.
On the first day of filing, candidates will draw from a container with 100 numbers for their assigned number. Candidates will be permitted to draw only once. Numbers drawn by candidates will not be released until the end of the day.
At the end of the first day, if there are multiple candidates filing for an office under the same party, the names of the candidates will be listed in ascending order using the numbers drawn by the candidates.
Candidates may begin filing for county offices at 8 a.m. Feb. 24 in the county clerk's office at the courthouse. Filing will close at 5 p.m. March 30.
County offices up for election this year are: first district commissioner; second district commissioner; sheriff; assessor; public administrator; coroner and surveyor.
Candidates for county offices must pay a $50 filing fee to the political party committee under which they are seeking nomination and bring the receipt with them when they file, or they can pay while filing and have the county clerk forward the fee to the appropriate party.
Political party committee members may also file at this time.
For additional information call the county clerk's office at 545-3549.