To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Sally Misare, Town Clerk
Robert J. Slentz, Town Attorney
Title
Discussion/Direction: Process for Withdrawal of Signatures from Initiative and Referendum Petitions
Body
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Executive Summary
In November 2015, the Castle Rock voters approved an Amendment to the Town Charter which provided the ability for an elector who had signed an initiative or referendum petition to request his or her name be removed from that initiative or referendum petition on or before that date the petition is filed with the Town Clerk.
It is necessary to establish a procedure to govern the process for the withdrawal of signatures from these petitions.
Staff recommends the following:
1) Requests for withdrawal shall be submitted in writing
2) The request shall contain the elector’s name, his or her registration address, the date the request is being made, and should specify that he or she is requesting that the name be removed from the petition
3) Said request must be signed by the elector
4) Said request may be submitted via email, fax, regular mail, or in person. If submitted by regular mail, it must postmarked on or before the date the petition is submitted to the Town Clerk. No request made via phone will be accepted.
Please note that no reason is required for requesting a signature be removed.
The requirement for the voter to sign the written request is consistent with the practices used by the Secretary of State for removal of an elector’s signature from a statewide petition. It could also protect the Town in the case a protest claiming invalid removal of a signature, as the Clerk would be in a position to compare the signature on the request to the signature on the petition and make a determination as to whether the request was submitted by the elector making the request.
Please note, the ability to withdraw signatures does not apply to Recall petitions. Recall petition were not addressed in the Charter amendment approved by the voters, and there is in fact specific language in the Recall Statutes which prohibits the Clerk from removing any signature after the petition is submitted.
Staff Recommendation
The Ordinance approving the Charter Amendment requires this policy be adopted by Ordinance. If Council is in agreement with the recommendation as stated above, staff will advertise and prepare the Ordinance for First Reading at the March 15, 2016 meeting. The Ordinance would be presented on Second Reading on April 5, 2016, and depending on the status of the pending initiative petition, Emergency Adoption may be requested so assure that the procedure is in effect when or if the pending initiative is submitted to the Town.
Proposed Motion
“I move to direct staff to prepare an Ordinance Providing for Removal of Signatures from an Initiative or Referendum Petition for consideration at the March 15, 2016 meeting