Source: https://www.azag.gov/sgo-opinions/calculation-number-signatures-qualified-electors-petition-incorporation-city-or-town
Timestamp: 2018-03-23 03:10:14
Document Index: 564733815

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 9', '§ 1', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9']

Calculation of Number of Signatures of Qualified Electors for Petition for Incorporation of City or Town | Arizona Attorney General
Calculation of Number of Signatures of Qualified Electors for Petition for Incorporation of City or Town
I09-003 (R09-004)
Calculation of Number of Signatures of Qualified Electors ...
The legislative history confirms this analysis. The Legislature added subsection C to A.R.S. § 9-101 in 1979. 1979 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 22, § 1. Until 1979, the only possible date to calculate the number of qualified electors in the community was the date on which the completed incorporation petition was filed with the board of supervisors pursuant to subsections A or B. Nothing in subsection C shows any legislative intent to change that. Subsection C’s evident purpose is to set a time limit on obtaining signatures. Minutes of Meeting: Hearing on H.B. 2369 Before the Committee on Counties & Municipalities, 34th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. 3 (Feb. 22, 1979); see also Minutes of Meeting: Hearing on H.B. 2369 Before the Committee on Government, 34th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. 2 (March 21, 1979). It was enacted to solve the problems “that arise when a petition is circulated for a long period of time.” Minutes of Meeting: Hearing on H.B. 2369 Before the Committee on Government at 2. Before the 1979 amendment, there was no limit on the time within which petitions could be circulated, and thus an individual could “forget and sign the petition twice or an individual who [might] have been a registered voter at the time of signing the petition [might] have allowed [that] status to lapse.” Id. A petition might have been in circulation for years before being filed. These are the types of problems that A.R.S. § 9-101(C) was intended to eliminate.
The court of appeals confirmed this analysis in Synder v. Lena, 145 Ariz. 583, 586, 703 P.2d 527, 530 (App. 1985). In Snyder, the court of appeals discussed A.R.S. § 9-101(C)’s enactment and stated that the filing of the unsigned petition as A.R.S. § 9-101(C) requires was intended to be a procedural first step “required solely to begin the 180-day period for the obtaining of signatures.” Id. “It is obvious that the action that confers jurisdiction upon the board of supervisors is the filing of the signed petition that meets all the statutory requirements of either § 9-101(B) or of both §§ 9-101 and 9-101.01.” Id. Therefore, the date on which a copy of the petition is filed with the county recorder or department of elections as set out in A.R.S. § 9-101(C) merely establishes a starting point for the 180-day time limit within which the petitioners have to gather the requisite number of signatures. The number of qualified electors is calculated when the completed petitions are submitted to the board under subsection A or B.
Thus, the signature requirements for an incorporation petition under A.R.S. § 9-101(A) or (B) is based upon the number of qualified electors residing in the community on the date that the petition is filed with the board of supervisors.
The phrase “petition the board” as used in A.R.S. § 9-101(A) and (B) means to file the completed petition with the clerk of the board of supervisors. See Colquhoun v. City of Tucson, 55 Ariz. 451, 456-57, 103 P.2d 269, 272 (1940) (holding that predecessor incorporation statute’s language “shall petition the board” means filing petition with clerk of board of supervisors).