(a)

(1) Every person desiring to be elected as a delegate from a particular House of Representatives district shall file a nominating petition with the Secretary of State containing at least fifty (50) signatures thereon of persons who are qualified electors within the district.

(2) In addition, he or she shall pay a filing fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00).

(3) When petitions are filed on behalf of a candidate, they shall contain a statement signed by the candidate and filed along with the petition indicating the candidate's willingness to accept the nomination and to serve as a delegate.

(b) Persons who circulate nominating petitions shall execute an affidavit concerning the genuineness of the signatures in like manner as now required for the circulators of petitions for initiative acts and constitutional amendments.

(c) The petitions shall be filed with the Secretary of State not less than eighty-one (81) days before the next general election, and the Secretary of State shall certify the names of all candidates and the position that each is seeking to the county board of election commissioners of the counties in the respective House of Representatives districts not later than seventy-five (75) days prior to the date of the election. A candidate must designate the position he or she is seeking at the time he or she files his or her nominating petition with the Secretary of State, and after having designated a position, the candidate is prohibited from changing to a different position.