Candidates for council office shall be nominated by registered voters from the council district for which they nominate the council candidate, as further provided in the State of California Elections Code.

At the time of filing their nomination papers, each candidate for the office of mayor, councilmember, auditor, rent stabilization board commissioner, and school board director shall pay a filing fee, in the amount of $150. The filing fee may be offset in whole or in part by the submission of up to 150 signatures of registered voters in the City. Each signature of a registered voter shall offset $1 of the filing fee. Any such required submission of signatures, in lieu of filing fees, shall be in addition to the signatures otherwise required by the State of California Election Code to nominate a candidate, but may be of voters registered anywhere in the City.

At the time of filing their nomination papers, each candidate for an elective office may file with the City Clerk a verified statement showing the name of the candidate, the office for which they are a candidate, their place of residence, place of birth, present occupation, what public offices they have held, whether they are a taxpayer in the City of Berkeley, a statement giving information as to their experience and qualifications, and a recent photograph, to the end that the electors may be in a position to estimate their fitness to fill the office, and the names of not less than five or more than twenty residents of the City of Berkeley to whom they refer. Until otherwise provided by ordinance, such statements shall not exceed two hundred words in length. At the time of filing said statement, each candidate shall also pay to the City Clerk a printing fee which, until otherwise provided by ordinance, shall be the sum of $35.00. The City Clerk shall cause said candidates' statements to be printed in some convenient form and shall mail a copy of said statements to each registered voter with the sample ballot, provided that no name to which the candidate refers shall be included in the publication by the Clerk unless the written consent of the person named is filed with the City Clerk. The provisions of this section are self-executing, but the City Council, by ordinance, may more definitely prescribe the form of said candidate's statement. The printing fees so collected by the City Clerk shall be paid into the City Treasury, and the expense of printing said candidates' statements shall be paid from the City Treasury. No refund from printing fees shall be made to candidates, nor shall any extra charge be made, regardless of whether the printing expense is more or less than the amount of the fees received.