19-121.02. Certification by county recorder

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 transmitted shall be disqualified for any of the following reasons:

1. No residence address or description of residence location is provided.

2. No date of signing is provided.

3. The signature is illegible and the signer is otherwise unidentifiable.

4. The address provided is illegible or nonexistent.

5. The individual was not a qualified elector on the date of signing the petition.

6. The individual was a registered voter but was not at least eighteen years of age on the date of signing the petition or affidavit.

7. The signature was disqualified after comparison with the signature on the affidavit of registration.

8. If a petitioner signed more than once, all but one otherwise valid signature shall be disqualified.

9. If a petition signer's signature is determined to be invalid after a comparison is made between the signature and handwriting on the petition and the petition signer's voter registration file.

10. If the person circulating the petition was a justice of the peace or a county recorder at the time the person circulated the petition.

11. For the same reasons any signatures or entire petition sheets could have been removed by the secretary of state pursuant to section 19-121.01, subsection A, paragraph 1 or 3.

B. Within the same time period provided in subsection A of this section, the county recorder shall certify to the secretary of state the following:

1. The name of any individual whose signature was included in the random sample and disqualified by the county recorder together with the petition page and line number of the disqualified signature.

2. The total number of signatures selected for the random sample and transmitted to the county recorder for verification and the total number of random sample signatures disqualified.

C. The secretary of state shall prescribe the form of the county recorder's certification.

D. At the time of the certification, the county recorder shall:

1. Return the facsimile signature sheets to the secretary of state.

2. Send notice of the results of the certification by mail to the person or organization that submitted the initiative or referendum petitions and to the secretary of state.