When a petition, memorial, or remonstrance is presented to the general assembly for or against the erection of a new county, or for the location or relocation of a county seat, the petitioners must be eighteen years of age and resident taxpayers or voters within the several townships in which they reside. The petition shall set forth the name of the township and county in which the petitioners reside, and that their residence is within or out of the bounds of the proposed new county, as the case may be. The foregoing requirements shall be proven by the certificate of a township fiscal officer or by the oath of a respectable freeholder or voter, certified by a person authorized to administer oaths. The certificate or oath shall specify on the petition, memorial, or remonstrance the number of signers there were to the paper at the time of the certifying or oath.