State executive committee to hear certain protests and contests; place of hearing; filing; notice and service

(A) The state executive committee must meet in Columbia at such place as may be designated by the chairman to hear and decide protests and contests that may arise in the case of federal officers, state officers, State Senate, State House of Representatives, officers involving more than one county, partisan county officers, partisan less than county officers, and partisan municipal officers. Any protest or contest must be filed in writing with the chairman of the committee, together with a copy for each candidate in the race, not later than noon on Monday following the canvassing of the votes for these officers. However, service upon the chairman may be perfected by depositing at the office of the Chief of the State Law Enforcement Division a copy of the protest, together with a copy for each candidate in the race. The chief must take immediate steps to deliver these copies to the chairman. The protest must contain each ground thereof stated separately and concisely. The chairman of the committee must forthwith serve upon each candidate in the protested race a copy of the protest and serve a notice of the time and place of the meeting of the committee for the purposes of hearing the protest. (B) The state executive committee may, by resolution adopted at least sixty days prior to the conduct of a primary, require the filing of any protest or contest to be accompanied by a refundable deposit for hearing costs, not to exceed seven hundred fifty dollars. The amount of the deposit must be refunded to a candidate who files a protest or contest only if: (1) the state executive committee upholds the protest or contest; or (2) a petition to the Supreme Court under Section 7-17-570(D) is granted.