2013 Arizona Revised Statutes
Title 19 - Initiative, Referendum and Recall
§ 19-121 Signature sheets; petitions; form; procedure for filing; evidence in challenge; definitions

19-121. Signature sheets; petitions; form; procedure for filing; evidence in challenge; definitions

(Pending referendum)

A. Signature sheets filed shall:

1. Be in the form prescribed by law.

2. Have printed in their lower right-hand corner, on each side of such sheets, the official serial number assigned to the petition by the secretary of state.

3. Be attached to a full and correct copy of the title and text of the measure, or amendment to the constitution, proposed or referred by the petition. The secretary of state's time-and-date-marked copy of the measure or constitutional amendment constitutes the full and correct copy and is the only valid copy of the title and text of the measure for circulation for signatures.

4. Be printed in at least eight point type.

5. Be printed in black ink on white or recycled white pages fourteen inches in width by eight and one-half inches in length, with a margin of at least one-half inch at the top and one-fourth inch at the bottom of each page.

B. For the purposes of this chapter, a petition is filed when the petition sheets are tendered to the secretary of state, who shall issue a receipt based on an estimate made to the secretary of state of the purported number of sheets and signatures filed. After the issuance of the receipt, no additional petition sheets may be accepted for filing.

C. Petitions may be filed with the secretary of state in numbered sections for convenience in handling. Not more than fifteen signatures on one sheet shall be counted. The political committee that files the petitions shall organize the signature sheets and group them by the county of residence of the majority of the persons signing that signature sheet, by circulator on that signature sheet and by the notary public who notarized the circulator's signature on that sheet. The secretary of state may return as unfiled any signature sheets that are not so organized and grouped. Before making the determination that the petitions were improperly organized and therefore not filed, the secretary of state shall make a reasonable cause finding pursuant to section 16-924 that the committee failed to comply with this section and shall refer the matter to the attorney general pursuant to section 16-924. The attorney general may then issue a compliance order directing the committee to reorganize the petitions in the proper organization or grouping. Any reorganization required under this section does not extend the time for filing. The political committee that is the proponent of the petition is solely responsible for compliance with this subsection.

D. Initiative petitions that have not been filed with the secretary of state as of 5:00 p.m. on the day required by the constitution before the ensuing general election after their issuance shall be null and void, but in no event shall the secretary of state accept an initiative petition that was issued for circulation more than twenty-four months before the general election at which the measure is to be included on the ballot.

E. For the purposes of this article and article 4 of this chapter, the measure to be attached to the petition as enacted by the legislative body of an incorporated city or town or a county means the adopted ordinance or resolution or, in the absence of a written ordinance or resolution, that portion of the minutes of the legislative body that reflects the action taken by that body when adopting the measure. In the case of zoning measures the measure shall also include a legal description of the property and any amendments made to the ordinance by the legislative body.

F. Any political committee may submit to the secretary of state forty-five days before the deadline for filing its petition a list of all petition circulators who circulated that petition and a copy of a criminal records check verified through source documents performed on each petition circulator by an entity licensed to do so under title 32, chapter 24 or similarly licensed in another state. If the background check was performed and provided by a person or entity who was engaged in an arm's-length transaction with the committee, including any of its employees, vendors, contractors or subcontractors, a rebuttable presumption arises and in any challenge to those petition circulators, the presumption must be overcome by a showing of a preponderance of the evidence that the circulator was not eligible to register to vote in this state. The secretary of state may adopt by rule appropriate standards for determining whether a transaction between a political committee, its employees, vendors, contractors and subcontractors and the person or entity providing the circulators' background checks constitutes an arm's-length transaction. For the purposes of this subsection:

1. " Affiliate" means parties that are related by blood or marriage, employment or agency, or, in the case of entities, that are under direct or indirect common control or one of which controls the other.

2. " Arm's-length transaction" means an agreement to provide a criminal records check negotiated between a willing committee, including any of its employees, vendors, contractors or subcontractors and a willing entity licensed under title 32, chapter 24 or similarly licensed in another state where the parties are not affiliates.