32-1303. Recall petition; signers and circulators; requirements; notification.

(1) A petition demanding that the question of removing an elected official or member of a governing body listed in section 32-1302 be submitted to the registered voters shall be signed by registered voters equal in number to at least thirty-five percent of the total vote cast for that office in the last general election, except that (a) for an office for which more than one candidate is chosen, the petition shall be signed by registered voters equal in number to at least thirty-five percent of the number of votes cast for the person receiving the most votes for such office in the last general election and (b) for a member of a governing body of a village, the petition shall be signed by registered voters of the village equal in number to at least forty-five percent of the total vote cast for the person receiving the most votes for that office in the last general election. The signatures shall be affixed to petition papers and shall be considered part of the petition.

(2) Petition circulators shall conform to the requirements of sections 32-629 and 32-630.

(3) The petition papers shall be procured from the filing clerk. Prior to the issuance of such petition papers, a recall petition filing form shall be signed and filed with the filing clerk by at least one registered voter. Such voter or voters shall be deemed to be the principal circulator or circulators of the recall petition. The filing form shall state the name and office of the official sought to be removed, shall include in concise language of sixty words or less the reason or reasons for which recall is sought, and shall request that the filing clerk issue initial petition papers to the principal circulator for circulation. The filing clerk shall notify the official sought to be removed by any method specified in section 25-505.01 or, if notification cannot be made with reasonable diligence by any of the methods specified in section 25-505.01, by leaving a copy of the filing form at the official's usual place of residence and mailing a copy by first-class mail to the official's last-known address. If the official chooses, he or she may submit a defense statement in concise language of sixty words or less for inclusion on the petition. Any such defense statement shall be submitted to the filing clerk within twenty days after the official receives the copy of the filing form. The filing clerk shall prepare the petition papers within five business days after receipt of the defense statement. The principal circulator or circulators shall gather the petition papers within twenty days after being notified by the filing clerk that the petition papers are available. The filing clerk shall notify the principal circulator or circulators that the necessary signatures must be gathered within thirty days from the date of issuing the petitions.

(4) The filing clerk, upon issuing the initial petition papers or any subsequent petition papers, shall enter in a record, to be kept in his or her office, the name of the principal circulator or circulators to whom the papers were issued, the date of issuance, and the number of papers issued. The filing clerk shall certify on the papers the name of the principal circulator or circulators to whom the papers were issued and the date they were issued. No petition paper shall be accepted as part of the petition unless it bears such certificate. The principal circulator or circulators who check out petitions from the filing clerk may distribute such petitions to persons who may act as circulators of such petitions.

(5) Petition signers shall conform to the requirements of sections 32-629 and 32-630. Each signer of a recall petition shall be a registered voter and qualified by his or her place of residence to vote for the office in question.

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