Title 19, Initiative, Referendum and Recall

A. A person or organization intending to propose a law or constitutional amendment by initiative petition or to file a referendum petition against a measure, item, section or part of a measure, before causing the petition to be printed and circulated, shall file with the secretar…

A. At any time after a person or organization submits an application for initiative petition or referendum petition for a proposed law or constitutional amendment, a political committee that intends to support the measure or a political committee that intends to oppose the measur…

A. Every qualified elector signing a petition shall do so in the presence of the person who is circulating the petition and who is to execute the affidavit of verification. At the time of signing, the qualified elector shall sign his first and last names in the spaces provided an…

A. A person who has signed a petition prescribed by statute for any candidate nomination, initiative, referendum, recall or formation or modification of a county, municipality or district may withdraw the person's signature from the petition not later than 5:00 p.m. on the date t…

A. No county recorder or justice of the peace and no person other than a person who is qualified to register to vote pursuant to section 16-101 may circulate an initiative or referendum petition and all signatures verified by any such person shall be void and shall not be counted…

Any person who knowingly gives or receives money or any other thing of value for signing an initiative or referendum petition, excluding payments made to a person for circulating such petition, is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.

A. Every qualified elector of the state may sign a referendum or initiative petition upon any measure which he is legally entitled to vote upon. B. A person who knowingly signs any name other than his own to a petition, except in a circumstance where he signs for a person in the …

A. A person who knowingly coerces any other person by menace or threat, or threatens any other person to the effect that the other person will or may be injured in his business, or discharged from employment, or that he will not be employed, to sign or subscribe, or to refrain fr…

Notwithstanding any other law, any change in the law or procedure adopted by a governing body with respect to circulation or filing of an initiative or referendum petition after an initiative or referendum petition application is filed pursuant to section 19-111 does not apply to…

A. For statewide initiative and referendum measures only, all circulators who are not residents of this state and all paid circulators must register as circulators with the secretary of state before circulating petitions pursuant to this title. The committee that is circulating t…

A. A person shall not pay or receive money or any other thing of value based on the number of signatures collected on a statewide initiative or referendum petition. Signatures that are obtained by a paid circulator who violates this section are void and shall not be counted in de…

A. In an attempt to influence the outcome of an election held pursuant to this title, an individual or committee shall not deliver or mail any document that falsely purports to be a mailing authorized, approved, required, sent or reviewed by or that falsely simulates a document f…

A. For the purposes of this title, a person commits petition signature fraud if the person does either of the following with the intent to defraud: 1. Intentionally collects for filing petition signature sheets with the knowledge that the person whose name appears on the signatur…

Each election cycle the secretary of state shall prepare and publish an initiative, referendum and recall handbook that provides guidance on interpreting, administering, applying and enforcing the laws relating to initiative, referendum and recall. The secretary of state shall ma…

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 and, if applicable, the registration number assigned …

A. Within twenty days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays, after the date of filing of an initiative or referendum petition and issuance of the receipt, the secretary of state shall: 1. Remove the following: (a) Those sheets not attached to a copy of the comple…

A. Within fifteen days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays, after receiving the facsimile signature sheets from the secretary of state pursuant to section 19-121.01, the county recorder shall determine which signatures of individuals whose names were transmitte…

A. If the county recorder fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of section 19-121.02, any citizen may apply, within five calendar days after such failure or refusal, to the superior court for a writ of mandamus. If the court finds that the county recorder has not complie…

A. Within seventy-two hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays, after receipt of the facsimile signature sheets and the certification of each county recorder, the secretary of state shall determine the total number of valid signatures by subtracting from the t…

A. The secretary of state shall establish a separate fund from which he shall reimburse a county recorder for actual expenses incurred by the county recorder for performance of his duties under the provisions of section 19-121.02, but not to exceed the rate of fifty cents per sig…

A. If the secretary of state refuses to accept and file a petition for the initiative or referendum, or proposal for a constitutional amendment that has been presented within the time prescribed, or if the secretary of state refuses to transmit the facsimiles of a signature sheet…

A. When the secretary of state is ordered by the legislature, or by petition under the initiative and referendum provisions of the constitution, to submit to the people a measure or proposed amendment to the constitution, the secretary of state shall cause to be printed, at the e…

A. The person filing an initiative petition may at the same time file with the secretary of state an argument advocating the measure or constitutional amendment proposed in the petition. Not later than twenty-seven days preceding the regular primary election a person may file wit…

Not later than sixty days preceding the regular primary election, the commission on judicial performance review shall prepare and file with the secretary of state the following information relating to justices of the supreme court and judges of the court of appeals for publicatio…

A. The secretary of state, at the time the secretary of state transmits to the clerks of the boards of supervisors a certified copy of the name of each candidate for public office, shall transmit to each clerk a certified copy of the official title, the descriptive title and the …

A. The votes on measures and proposed constitutional amendments shall be counted, canvassed and returned by the officers of the election boards as votes for candidates are counted, canvassed and returned, and the abstract made by the clerks of the boards of supervisors of the sev…

A. If a measure or proposed constitutional amendment, at the ensuing election, is approved by the people, the preserved copies with the sheets, signatures and affidavits, and a certified copy of the governor's proclamation declaring them to have been approved by the people, shall…

A person filing an initiative or referendum petition or measure who, at the time of filing the petition or measure, knows it is falsely made, or who knowingly destroys or suppresses an initiative or referendum petition or measure, or any part thereof, which has been duly filed wi…

A. This chapter applies to the legislation of cities, towns and counties, except as specifically provided to the contrary in this article. The duties required of the secretary of state as to state legislation shall be performed in connection with such legislation by the city or t…

A. The whole number of votes cast at the citywide or townwide election at which a mayor or councilmen were chosen last preceding the submission of the application for a referendum petition against an ordinance, franchise or resolution shall be the basis on which the number of ele…

A. The whole number of votes cast at the city or town election at which a mayor or councilman was chosen last preceding the submission of the application for an initiative petition is the basis for computing the number of qualified electors of the city or town required to sign th…

A. A challenge to the legal sufficiency of any referendum measure or any proposed amendment or amendments to the constitution ordered by the legislature to be submitted to the people at the polls must be filed within: 1. Twenty days after the referendum is filed with the secretar…

A. Every public officer holding an elective office, either by election, appointment or retention, is subject to recall from such office by the qualified electors of the electoral district from which candidates are elected to that office. Such electoral district may include the wh…

The legislature recognizes that recall overturns the determination of the qualified electors and therefore finds and determines that strict compliance with the constitutional and statutory requirements for recall and in the application and enforcement of those requirements provid…

A. A recall petition shall not be circulated against any officer until the officer has held office for six months, except that a petition may be filed against a member of the legislature at any time after five days from the beginning of the first session after the member's electi…

A. A person or organization intending to file a recall petition, before causing the petition to be printed and circulated, shall submit an application setting forth the following: 1. The person's name and address or, if an organization, its name and address and the names and titl…

A. A recall petition shall contain a general statement of not more than two hundred words stating the grounds of the demand for the recall. The petition shall be submitted for verification of signatures to the appropriate filing officer as prescribed by section 19-202.01. B. A re…

A. The caption and body of a recall petition shall be substantially as follows: Recall Petition We, the qualified electors of the electoral district from which ________________________ (name and title of office) was elected, demand the elected official's recall The grounds of thi…

The secretary of state shall make available a sample recall petition that strictly complies with the requirements of section 19-204. Any person or organization that uses the sample recall petition of the secretary of state is presumed to have strictly complied with the requiremen…

A. Every qualified elector signing a petition for a recall election shall do so in the presence of the person who is circulating the petition and who is to execute the affidavit of verification on the reverse side of the signature sheet. At the time of signing, the qualified elec…

A. All circulators who are not residents of this state and all paid circulators must register as circulators with the secretary of state before circulating petitions pursuant to this chapter. The person or organization that is circulating the petition shall collect and submit the…

No county recorder or justice of the peace and no person other than a person who is qualified to register to vote pursuant to section 16-101 may circulate a recall petition, and all signatures verified by any such unqualified person are void and shall not be counted in determinin…

Any person who knowingly gives or receives money or any other thing of value for signing a recall petition, excluding payments made to a person for circulating such petition, is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.

A. A person who has signed a recall petition may withdraw the person's signature from the petition not later than 5:00 p.m. on the date the petition containing the person's signature is actually submitted for verification pursuant to section 19-203. B. To withdraw a petition sign…

A. Every qualified elector of this state may sign a recall petition on any officer for whom the elector is qualified to vote. B. A person is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor if the person knowingly induces or compels any other person, either directly or indirectly or by menace or …

A. For the purposes of this chapter, a person commits recall petition signature fraud if the person does either of the following with the intent to defraud: 1. Intentionally collects for filing recall petition signature sheets with the knowledge that the person whose name appears…