Not later than the fifth Tuesday preceding every regular city election and preceding every special election at which any office mentioned in this charter is to be filled, there shall be held, except as otherwise provided in section 5-7, a preliminary election for the purpose of nominating candidates for such general or special election, and section 9-2 of this charter shall not apply.
The notice, or order adopted by the city council, for regular, preliminary and special elections shall specify by name all the officers to be voted for and state, in the form in which it will appear upon the ballot, any question submitted to the voters. They shall specify the time when the polls will be opened and when the polls will be closed. The polls at such election shall be open during such hours as the city council may prescribe; provided, that they shall be opened not earlier than seven o'clock in the forenoon nor later than ten o'clock in the forenoon and shall be kept open at least six (6) hours, but in no event later than eight o'clock in the evening. The ballots to be used at such elections shall be governed by the provisions of section forty-nine of chapter forty-three of the General Laws.
Except as otherwise provided in section 5-7, there shall not be printed on the official ballot to be used at any regular or special election the name of any person as a candidate for any such office unless such person has been nominated as such at a preliminary election for nomination, held as provided in sections 5-1 to 5-7, inclusive. There shall not be printed on the official ballot for use at such preliminary election the name of any candidate for nomination at such election, unless such person shall have filed, within the time limited by section 5-3, the statement and petition therein described.
Any person who is qualified to vote for a candidate for any elective municipal office and who is a candidate for nomination thereto, shall be entitled to have the name of said person as such candidate printed on the official ballot to be used at a preliminary election; provided, that within the time prescribed by section ten of chapter fifty-three of the General Laws in the case of preliminary elections in cities such person shall file with the city clerk a statement, in writing, of such person's candidacy, and with it the petition of at least fifty (50) voters, qualified to vote for the said office. Said statement and petition shall be in substantially the following form:
STATEMENT OF CANDIDATE
  I (__________), on oath declare that I reside at (number if any) on (name of street) in city of _____; that I am a voter therein, qualified to vote for a candidate for the hereinafter mentioned office; that I am a candidate for the office of (name of office) for (state the term) to be voted for at the preliminary election to be held on Tuesday, the _____ day of _____, nineteen hundred and _____, and I request that my name be printed as such candidate on the official ballot for use at said preliminary election.
  (Signed)
Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
ss.
Subscribed and sworn to on this day of __________, nineteen hundred and _____ before me,
  (Signed)
  Justice of the Peace or (Notary Public).
PETITION ACCOMPANYING STATEMENT OF CANDIDATE
Whereas (name of candidate) is a candidate for nomination for the office of (state the term), we the undersigned, voters of the city of __________, duly qualified to vote for a candidate for said office, do hereby request that the name of said (name of candidate) as a candidate for nomination for said office be printed on the official ballot to be used at the preliminary election to be held on the _____ Tuesday of __________, nineteen hundred and _____.
We further state that we believe this person to be of good moral character and qualified to perform the duties of the office.
No acceptance by the candidate for nomination in the said petition shall be necessary to its validity or its filling, and the petition, which may be on one or more papers, need not be sworn to.
On the first day, other than Sunday or a legal holiday, following the expiration of the time for filing the above described statement and petition, the city clerk shall post in a conspicuous place in the city hall the names and residences of the candidates for nomination who have duly qualified as candidates for nomination, as they are to appear on the official ballots to be used at the preliminary election, except as to the order of the names, and shall cause the ballots which shall contain said names, in their order as drawn by the clerk, and no others, with a designation of residence, and of the office and term of service, to be printed, and the ballots so printed shall be official and no others shall be used at the preliminary election. In drawing for position on the ballot the candidates shall have an opportunity to be present in person or by one (1) representative each. Blank spaces shall be left at the end of each list of candidates for nomination for the different offices equal to the number to be nominated therefor, in which the voter may insert the name of any person not printed on the ballot for whom he desires to vote for nomination for such office. There shall be printed on such ballots such directions as will aid the voter, as, for example: "vote for one," "vote for two," and the like, and the ballots shall be headed as follows:
OFFICIAL PRELIMINARY BALLOT
Candidates for nomination for the offices of () in the city of __________ at a preliminary election to be held on the _____ day of __________ in the year nineteen hundred and _____. (The heading shall be varied in accordance with the offices for which nominations are to be made).
The election officers shall, immediately upon the closing of the polls at preliminary elections, count the ballots and ascertain the number of votes cast in the several voting places for each candidate, and forthwith make return thereof upon blanks to be furnished, as in regular elections, to the city clerk who shall canvass said returns and shall forthwith determine the result thereof, insert the same in one (1) or more newspapers published in the city, and post the same in a conspicuous place in the city hall.
The two persons receiving at a preliminary election the highest number of votes for nomination for an office shall, except as provided by section 5-7, be the sole candidates for that office whose names may be printed on the official ballot to be used at the regular or special election at which such office is to be filled, and no acceptance of a nomination at a preliminary election shall be necessary to its validity; provided, however, that a person nominated at a preliminary election may withdraw from nomination by a request signed and duly acknowledged by such person and filed with the city clerk within six (6) days succeeding five o'clock in the afternoon of the day of holding such preliminary election. Such nominee shall be replaced by the candidate with the next highest number of votes in said preliminary, unless provided by the charter of the city.
If two (2) or more persons are to be elected to the same office at such regular or special election, the several persons, equal in number to twice the number so to be elected, who receive at such preliminary election the highest number of votes for nomination for that office shall, except as provided by section 5-7, be the sole candidates for that office whose names may be printed on the official ballot.
If the preliminary election results in a tie vote among candidates for nomination receiving the lowest number of votes, which, but for said tie vote, would entitle a person receiving the same to have his name printed upon the official ballot for the election, all candidates participating in said tie vote shall have their names printed upon the official ballot, although in consequence there be printed thereon candidates to a number exceeding twice the number to be elected.
If, at the expiration of the time for filing statements of candidates to be voted for at any preliminary election, the number of statements which have been filed with the city clerk for a particular office does not exceed twice the number of persons to be elected to such office, the candidates whose statements have thus been filed shall be deemed to have been nominated to said office, and their names shall be voted on for such office at the succeeding regular or special election, as the case may be, and the city clerk shall not print said names upon the ballot to be used at said preliminary election and no other nomination to said office shall be made. If in consequence it shall appear that no names are to be printed upon the official ballot to be used at any preliminary election in any ward or wards of the city, no preliminary election shall be held in any such ward or wards.