The Salt Lake County Democratic Convention, originally scheduled for Saturday, April 12, has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 26. The event will still be held at Jordan High School.

State party communication officer Bill Keshlear said the school had scheduled ACT testing for the facility on the same date and the conflict was just recently noted.

Keshlear said that a mass e-mailing has already gone out to party members, but of particular concern is deadlines for candidates' campaign finance disclosure filings.

"New candidates who might be unfamiliar with the paperwork need to get their reports in by April 21," Keshlear said.

The filing due date has been updated from a previous deadline of April 5. The state Democrats' Web site indicates that if a candidate has already submitted the financial reports, an update including contributions and expenditures from March 31 to April 14 will still need to be turned in.

Keshlear said the change has "thrown a monkey-wrench" into some of the planning logistics, but party members were rolling with the new convention date. He did not expect the change to affect attendance or participation.

Delegates, most of which were chosen at neighborhood caucuses last week, will gather to discuss issues and choose candidates for county offices and for any legislative seat whose boundaries are all within the county.

Among the contested races are approximately a half-dozen House seats. Any candidate who receives at least 60 percent of the delegate vote advances, as the party nominee, to the general election. If no candidate in a contested race received 60 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters move into a primary race.

School board races are not decided at conventions because they are nonpartisan contests.

For more information, call the Utah Democratic Party at 328-1212.

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E-mail: araymond@desnews.com