A.  The multiple petitions for each ward or portion thereof, for each election district, or for each incorporated municipality shall be bound together as one petition and shall be filed at one time with the registrar of voters within sixty days from the date the first signature was affixed.  If the sixtieth day falls on a holiday or on a Saturday or Sunday, the petition shall be filed not later than the following work day.  The petition, when so filed, becomes a public record and cannot be returned to the proponents or signers thereof.

B.  Within fifteen days, after the petition is filed, the registrar of voters shall have notice of the filing of the petition published in the official journal of the parish or municipality, as the case may be, at the expense of the governing authority charged with the duty of calling the election.  The notice shall contain the preamble of the petition, reproduced only once, and a statement that the entire petition is available for inspection at the office of the registrar of voters during regular business hours.  Such inspection shall be permitted until such time as the petition is certified by the registrar.

Acts 1987, No. 696, §1; Acts 1990, No. 10, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 330, §1.