North Dakota Code 16.1-01-09 – Initiative or referendum petitions – Signature – Form – Circulation
1. a. A request of the secretary of state for approval of a petition to initiate or refer a measure may be presented over the signatures of the sponsoring committee on individual signature forms that have been notarized. The secretary of state shall prepare a signature form that includes provisions for identification of the measure; the printed name, signature, and address of the committee member; and notarization of the signature. The filed signature forms must be originals.
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 16.1-01-09
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Ballot: means a paper ballot from which the votes for candidates and questions are tabulated by hand or by a voting system. See North Dakota Code 16.1-06-12
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- qualified elector: means a citizen of the United States who is eighteen years of age or older; and is a resident of this state and of the area affected by the petition. See North Dakota Code 1-01-51
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- year: means twelve consecutive months. See North Dakota Code 1-01-33
b. Upon receipt of a petition to initiate or refer a measure, the secretary of state shall draft a short and concise statement that fairly represents the measure. The statement must be submitted to the attorney general for approval or disapproval. An approved statement must be affixed to the petition before it is circulated for signatures, must be called the “petition title”, and must be placed immediately before the full text of the measure.
c. The secretary of state and the attorney general shall complete their review of a petition in not less than five, nor more than seven, business days, excluding Saturdays.
2. An individual may not sign any initiative or referendum petition circulated pursuant to article III of the Constitution of North Dakota unless the individual is a qualified elector. An individual may not sign any petition more than once, and each signer shall also legibly print the signer’s name, complete residential address or rural route or general delivery address, and the date of signing on the petition. Every qualified elector signing a petition shall do so in the presence of the individual circulating the petition. A referendum or initiative petition must be on a form prescribed by the secretary of state containing the following information:
REFERENDUM [INITIATIVE] PETITION TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE, STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA We, the undersigned, being qualified electors request [House (Senate) Bill passed by the Legislative Assembly] [the following initiated law] be placed on the ballot as provided by law.
SPONSORING COMMITTEE The following are the names and addresses of the qualified electors of the state of North Dakota who, as the sponsoring committee for the petitioners, represent and act for the petitioners in accordance with law:
Name Address (Chairperson) PETITION TITLE (To be drafted by the secretary of state, approved by the attorney general, and attached to the petition before circulation.) FULL TEXT OF THE MEASURE IF MATERIAL IS UNDERSCORED, IT IS NEW MATERIAL WHICH IS BEING ADDED. IF MATERIAL IS OVERSTRUCK BY DASHES, THE MATERIAL IS BEING DELETED. IF MATERIAL IS NOT UNDERSCORED OR OVERSTRUCK, THE MATERIAL IS EXISTING LAW THAT IS NOT BEING CHANGED. [The full text of the measure must be inserted here.] INSTRUCTIONS TO PETITION SIGNERS You are being asked to sign a petition. You must be a qualified elector. This means you are eighteen years old, you have lived in North Dakota thirty days, and you are a United States citizen. All signers shall also legibly print their name, complete residential address or rural route or general delivery address, and the date of signing on the petition. Every qualified elector signing a petition must do so in the presence of the individual circulating the petition.
QUALIFIED ELECTORS Signed Month, Name of Printed Residential Address or City Day, Qualified Name of Complete Rural Route State, Year Elector Qualified or General Delivery Zip Code Elector Address 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The number of signature lines on each page of a printed petition may vary if necessary to accommodate other required textual matter. In this section for referral petitions “full text of the measure” means the bill as passed by the legislative assembly excluding the session and sponsor identification. In this section for initiative petitions “full text of the measure” means an enacting clause which must be: “BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA” and the body of the bill. If the measure amends the law, all new statutory material must be underscored and all statutory material to be deleted must be overstruck by dashes. When repealing portions of the law, the measure must contain a repealer clause and, in brackets, the text of the law being repealed.
3. Each copy of any petition provided for in this section, before being filed, must have attached an affidavit executed by the circulator in substantially the following form:
State of North Dakota ) ) ss. County of ) (county where signed) I, , being sworn, say that I am a qualified elector; that I (circulator) reside at ; (address) that each signature contained on the attached petition was executed in my presence; and that to the best of my knowledge and belief each individual whose signature appears on the attached petition is a qualified elector; and that each signature contained on the attached petition is the genuine signature of the individual whose name it purports to be.
(signature of circulator) Subscribed and sworn to before me on , , at , North Dakota. (city) (Notary Seal) (signature of notary) Notary Public My commission expires_ 4. No petition may be circulated under the authority of article III of the Constitution of North Dakota by an individual who is less than eighteen years of age, nor may the affidavit called for by subsection 3 be executed by an individual who is less than eighteen years of age at the time of signing. All petitions circulated under the authority of the constitution and of this section must be circulated in their entirety. A petition may not include a statement of intent or similar explanatory information.
5. When signed petitions are delivered to the secretary of state, the chairperson of the sponsoring committee shall submit to the secretary of state an affidavit stating that to the best of that individual’s knowledge, the petitions contain at least the required number of signatures. The chairperson also shall submit a complete list of petition circulators which must include each circulator’s full name and residential address. The residential address must be in this state and identify the circulator’s street address, city, and zip code. Upon submission of the petitions to the secretary of state, the petitions are considered filed and may not be returned to the sponsoring committee for the purpose of continuing the circulation process or resubmitting the petitions at a later time. An elector’s name may not be removed by the elector from a petition that has been submitted to and received by the secretary of state.
6. An initiative or referendum petition may be submitted to the secretary of state until midnight of the day designated as the deadline for submitting the petition.
7. An initiative petition may be circulated for one year from the date it is approved for circulation by the secretary of state.