1.12.100 Form of petitions for ordinances referred to people.
The form and sufficiency of the petition shall be as follows:
A. A petition may include any page or group of pages containing the statement prepared by the city attorney along with the initiative number and shall contain the following essential elements when applicable:
1. The text or prayer of the petition shall be a concise statement of the action or relief sought by petitioners;
2. A copy of the ordinance to be referred to the electorate;
3. Numbered lines for signatures with space provided beside each signature for the printed name of the signer, the address of the signer, and the date of signing;
4. The warning statement prescribed in subsection (B) of this section.
B. Petitions shall be printed or typed on single sheets of white paper of good quality and each sheet of petition paper having a space thereon for signatures shall contain the text or prayer of the petition and the following warning:
WARNING
Any person who signs this petition with any other than their true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seeking an election when he/she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he/she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Each signature shall be executed in ink or indelible pencil and shall be followed by the printed name of the signer, the date of the signing, and the address of the signer as follows:
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Petitioner’s Signature |
Petitioner’s Printed Name |
Residence Address |
Date |
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1.__________________________________________ |
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2.__________________________________________ |
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3.__________________________________________ |
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4.__________________________________________ |
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C. “Signer” means any person who signs his own name to the petition.
D. To be sufficient a petition must contain valid signatures of qualified electors in number equal to not less than 15 percent of the names of persons listed as registered voters within the city on the day of the last preceding city general election.
Within three working days after the filing of a petition, the city clerk shall proceed to make a determination of sufficiency with reasonable promptness and shall file a certificate stating the date upon which such determination was begun, which date shall be referred to as the terminal date. Additional pages of one or more signatures may be added to the petition by filing the same with the city clerk prior to such terminal date. No signatures shall be accepted or withdrawn after such terminal date.
Any signer of a filed petition may withdraw his or her signature by a written request for withdrawal filed with the receiving officer prior to such terminal date. Such written request shall so sufficiently describe the petition as to make identification of the person and the petition certain. The name of any person seeking to withdraw shall be signed exactly the same as contained on the petition and, after the filing of such request for withdrawal, prior to the terminal date, the signature of any person seeking such withdrawal shall be deemed withdrawn.
E. Petitions containing the required number of signatures shall be accepted as prima facie valid until their invalidity has been proved.
F. A variation on petitions between the signatures on the petition and that on the voter’s permanent registration caused by the substitution of initials instead of the first or middle names, or both, shall not invalidate the signature on the petition if the surname and handwriting are the same.
G. Signatures, including the original, of any person who has signed a petition two or more times shall be stricken.
H. Signatures followed by a date of signing which is more than 90 days prior to the date of filing of the petition shall be stricken. (Ord. 2230 § 10, 1975.)