(a) Primary elections for the purpose of determining the preferred candidates for President of the United States shall be held in conjunction with the primary elections on the first Tuesday in June of each year in which a President is to be elected.

(b) Subject to rules and procedures of the political party of any such presidential candidate, the names of any candidates for delegate to the national conventions pledged to a presidential candidate shall be placed under his name and such delegates shall be elected in the primary election on the first Tuesday in June of each year as provided herein.

The provisions of Section 17-7-1 and Chapter 16 of this title shall apply to presidential preference primaries held under the provisions of this chapter unless clearly inconsistent herewith or inappropriate for the conduct of a presidential preference primary. Any political party holding a presidential preference primary may promulgate rules for the conduct of such primary not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter.

In order to qualify the name of any person to appear on the ballot at a presidential preference primary, a petition or petitions in support of his candidacy must be filed with the state party chairman of the appropriate political party, hereinafter referred to as 'chairman,' after March 1 of the year in which the presidential preference primary is to be held and before March 15 of that same year. To comply with this section, a candidate may file a petition or petitions signed by a total of not less than 500 qualified electors of the state, or petitions signed by not less than 50 qualified electors of each congressional district of the state, in which case there shall be a separate petition for each congressional district. The petitions shall be in such form as the chairman may prescribe; provided, that there shall be a space for the county of residence of each signer next to the space provided for his signature. No signature may be counted as valid unless the county of residence of the signer is provided. Each petition shall contain an affirmation under the penalties of perjury that each signer is a qualified elector in his congressional district or in the state, as appropriate. The decision of the chairman as to the regularity of the petitions shall be final.

No candidate shall be allowed to have his name placed on the ballot at a presidential preference primary unless there shall be paid to the chairman, at the time of filing his qualifying petition, such fee as the party may prescribe.

Whenever the chairman shall receive petitions, timely filed, which appear to qualify the name of a candidate for President to be placed on the ballot, he shall forthwith notify the prospective candidate by the most expeditious means of communication and shall advise such prospective candidate that unless he withdraws his name from the ballot within 10 days after receipt of such notice, his name will appear on the ballot of his party at such presidential preference primary. If a candidate signifies his desire to withdraw his name within the above time limit, his name shall not be printed on the ballot.

Each political party authorized to hold a primary and wishing to hold such a presidential preference primary shall, not less than 60 days before such primary is to be held, adopt and file with the Secretary of State a resolution stating said intention, the method by which electors are to indicate one or more preferences, the method by which delegates are to be selected, elected, chosen and replaced, and the pledge, if any, by which delegates are to be bound.