16.1-01-09.1. Recall petitions - Signature - Form - Circulation
1. A request of the secretary of state for approval of a petition to recall an elected official
or appointed official of a vacated elected office 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 recall; the printed name, signature, and address of the committee
member; and notarization of the signature. The filed signature forms must be originals.
The secretary of state shall complete the review of the form of a recall petition in not
less than five, nor more than seven, business days, excluding Saturdays.
2. An individual may not sign a recall petition circulated pursuant to article III of the
Constitution of North Dakota, section 44-08-21, or section 44-08-21.1 unless the
individual is a qualified elector. An individual may not sign a petition more than once,
and each signer shall also legibly print the signer's name, complete residential, 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. A petition must be in substantially the following form:
RECALL PETITION
We, the undersigned, being qualified electors request that
____________________________________(name of the individual being
recalled) the___________________(office of individual being recalled) be
recalled for the reason or reasons of______________________________.
RECALL SPONSORING COMMITTEE
The following are the names and addresses of the qualified electors of the state
of North Dakota and the political subdivision who, as the sponsoring committee
for the petitioners, represent and act for the petitioners in accordance with law:
Complete Residential,
Rural Route,
or General
Name Delivery Address
1. _____________________(Chairperson) _________________________
2. __________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________
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 for thirty days,
and you are a United States citizen. All signers shall also legibly print their name,
complete residential, rural route, or general delivery address, and 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 Printed Complete Residential,
Month, Name of Name of Rural Route, City
Day, Qualified Qualified or General State,
Year Elector Elector Delivery Address Zip Code
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.
3. Each copy of a 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's name)
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. A petition for recall must include, before the signature lines for the qualified electors as
provided in subsection 2, the name of the individual being recalled, the office from
which that individual is being recalled, and a list of the names and addresses of not
less than five qualified electors of the state, political subdivision, or district in which the
official is to be recalled who are sponsoring the recall.
5. For the recall of an elected official under article III of the Constitution of North Dakota,
circulators have one year to gather the required number of signatures of qualified
electors on the recall petition from the date the secretary of state approves the recall
petition for circulation. For the recall of an elected official under section 44-08-21 or
44-08-21.1, circulators have ninety days from the date the secretary of state approves
the recall petition for circulation to submit the recall petition to the appropriate filing
officer.
6. A petition may not be circulated under the authority of article III of the Constitution of
North Dakota, section 44-08-21, or section 44-08-21.1 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.
7. When recall petitions are delivered to the secretary of state or other filing officer with
whom a petition for nomination to the office in question is filed, the chairman of the
sponsoring committee shall submit to the secretary of state or other filing officer 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 appropriate
filing officer, the petitions are considered filed and may not be returned to the chairman
of 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 recall petition that has been submitted to and received by the
appropriate filing officer.
8. The filing officer has a reasonable period, not to exceed thirty days, in which to pass
upon the sufficiency of a recall petition. The filing officer may conduct a representative
random sampling of the signatures contained in the petitions by the use of
questionnaires, postcards, telephone calls, personal interviews, or other accepted
information-gathering techniques, or any combinations thereof, to determine the
validity of the signatures. Signatures determined by the filing officer to be invalid may
not be counted and all violations of law discovered by the filing officer must be
reported to the state's attorney for possible prosecution.
9. The filing officer shall call a special recall election to be held no sooner than ninety-five
days nor later than one hundred five days following the date the filing officer certifies
the petition valid and sufficient. No special recall election may be called if that date
would be within ninety-five days of the next scheduled election.
10. A notice of the recall election must be posted in the official newspaper thirty days
before the candidate filing deadline, which is by four p.m. on the sixty-fourth day
before the election. The official notice must include the necessary information for a
candidate to file and have the candidate's name included on the ballot.
11. A special recall election may not be held if candidate filings are not received by the
filing officer before the candidate filing deadline. The filing officer shall declare the
recall petition ineffective, and the elected or appointed official may continue to serve
the remainder of their term. A notice of cancellation of the recall election due to no
candidate filing received must be posted in the official newspaper within fifteen days
following the candidate filing deadline.
12. An official may not be recalled if the recall special election would occur within one year
of the next regularly scheduled election in which the official could be re-elected.
