24.2-684.1 - Requirements for voter petitions to call for referendum elections.
§ 24.2-684.1. Requirements for voter petitions to call for referendumelections.
In addition to other applicable requirements of law, the followingrequirements shall apply whenever a referendum election is initiated by voterpetitions. The requirements of this section shall be construed to overrideany requirement of general or special law in conflict with this section,except requirements set out in charter provisions to govern the exercise ofrecall, initiative, or referendum powers in a county, city, or town.
The requirements of this section shall apply to petitions calling for anyreferendum which is ordered to be held on or after January 1, 1994.
1. Prior to circulating any petition for signature, an individual shall filea copy of the petition with the clerk of the circuit court for the county orcity in which the referendum will be held. The individual shall be aqualified voter of the county or city and shall file, with the petition copy,a statement giving his name; residence address and, if different, his mailingaddress; and the name of the organization, if any, which he represents incirculating the petition. The copy of the petition shall be filed on or afterthe effective date of the law which authorizes the referendum for which thepetition will be circulated. The clerk shall certify, within ten days of suchfiling, that he has received and accepted the petition copy and statement.
2. If the referendum will be held only in a town, the copy and statementshall be filed with the clerk of the circuit court for the county in whichthe town, or larger portion of the town, is located, and the individual shallbe a qualified voter of the town. If the referendum will be held only in partof a county, city, or town, the copy and statement shall be filed with theclerk of the appropriate circuit court, and the individual shall be aqualified voter of the part of the county, city, or town in which thereferendum will be held. If the referendum will be held in more than onecounty, city, or town, the copy and statement shall be filed with the clerkof the circuit court of any one of the localities in which the referendumwill be held, and the individual shall be a qualified voter of that locality.
3. Each qualified voter signing a petition shall date his signature.
4. Each such voter shall provide on the petition his social security number,if any; however, noncompliance with this requirement shall not be cause toinvalidate the voter's signature on the petition.
5. Each signature on the petition shall be witnessed by a person who isqualified to vote, or qualified to register to vote, in the referendum forwhich he is circulating the petition and whose affidavit to that effectappears on each page of the petition.
6. The petition shall be circulated, completed, and filed with theappropriate court or authority within nine months of the date of thecertification by the clerk of the circuit court pursuant to subdivision 1.
7. Each qualified voter signing the petition shall have been validlyregistered in the jurisdiction for which the petition is circulated at thetime of signing the petition and at the time of validating the petitionsignatures.
8. The number of voters registered on January 1 of the year of thecertification by the clerk of the circuit court pursuant to subdivision 1shall be the basis for determining the number of signatures required on thepetition in all cases in which the law authorizing the referendum providesthat the number of signatures required for the petition is a percentage ofthe number of registered voters.
9. If the court or authority finds that the filed petitions are valid andsufficient under law, it shall proceed, as provided by law, to order or callfor the referendum election. If the court or authority finds that the filedpetitions are invalid for any cause, the petitions and the signatures on themshall be invalid for all purposes. The invalidity of one or more signatureson a petition page shall not be cause to invalidate the entire petition page.If the circulators of the petitions fail to file within the nine-month periodprovided in subdivision 6, the petitions and the signatures on them shall beinvalid for all purposes.
(1993, c. 996, § 24.1-165.3; 1993, c. 641; 2000, cc. 232, 252.)