GA Code § 21-4-5 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 21 - Elections|Chapter 4 - Recall of Public Officers|§ 21-4-5. Recall Petition - Application for and Time of Filing; Sponsors; Withdrawal of Signature; Duties of Election Superintendent; Printing and Distribution of Recall Petition Forms by Secretary of State

  No application for a recall petition may be filed during the first 180 days or during the last 180 days of the term of office of any public official subject to recall. No person shall be authorized to circulate, sponsor, or sign such application unless such person is an elector or sponsor as defined in Code Section 21-4-3.     The application shall include:   The name and office of the person sought to be recalled;   The printed names and signatures of the official sponsors, the date signed, residence addresses, and the name of the county of residence;     An affidavit by the petition chairperson and the person circulating such recall application that each person sponsoring or signing such recall application is an elector of the electoral district of the officer sought to be recalled and that the fact or facts upon which the ground or grounds for recall are based are true.    No notary public may sign the application as an elector or serve as a circulator of any application which he or she notarized. Any and all sheets of an application for a recall petition that have the circulator's affidavit notarized by a notary public who also served as a circulator of one or more sheets of the application for a recall petition or who signed one of the sheets of the petition as an elector shall be disqualified and rejected.      Applications shall be issued by the election superintendent who shall assign a number to each application. Such number shall appear on the face of each application. The election superintendent shall keep records of applications issued, including the date of issuance and number assigned. The election superintendent shall immediately notify in writing the public officer named for recall in the application that an application for a recall petition has been officially issued for circulation.   The official application forms shall be printed by the office of the Secretary of State in substantially the form prescribed in this subsection and distributed to election superintendents.     The number of official sponsors necessary to file an application for a recall petition must be equal in number to at least 100 electors or equal in number to at least 10 percent of the number of electors who were registered to vote at the last preceding election for any of the candidates offering for the office held by the public official sought to be recalled, whichever is smaller.   Sponsors of a recall petition, before causing the petition to be circulated, shall submit the application for the petition to the election superintendent designated in Code Section 21-4-3 and request official recall petition forms.   At any time prior to the date the election superintendent receives the application for a recall petition, an elector who has signed the application as an official sponsor may request withdrawal of his or her signature from the application by executing and filing an affidavit signed and sworn to before a notary public which affirms the elector's intention to withdraw his or her signature from the application. The official affidavit of signature withdrawal shall be printed by the office of the Secretary of State and distributed to election superintendents. The form of the affidavit shall be substantially as prescribed in Code Section 21-4-9.     No application for a recall petition shall be accepted for verification if more than 15 days have elapsed since the application forms were issued to the sponsors. If an application for a recall petition contains more than one sheet, such application, when offered for filing, shall be bound together and each sheet shall be numbered consecutively at the foot of each page beginning with page one.   On receipt of the application, the election superintendent shall file the application and proceed to determine the legal sufficiency of the application and determine if the signers are qualified electors eligible to sign the application. The election superintendent is granted unrestricted authority to examine the registration records maintained by the board of registrars, to receive evidence and testimony, and to require the personal appearance of any person signing such application for the purpose of making such determination. If the election superintendent finds that any signer is not a qualified elector eligible to sign the application, such signature shall not be counted in determining whether the application contains a sufficient number of signatures as required by law. The nullification of a signature on an application shall not affect the validity of other signatures contained in such application. The election superintendent shall certify the legal sufficiency or insufficiency of the application for a recall petition within five days after receiving the application, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays; provided, however, that the judge of the superior court may, upon proper application and good cause shown, grant an additional period of time not to exceed 15 days for the election superintendent to verify the application.   The election superintendent shall immediately notify in writing the public officer named for recall in the application that a completed application for a recall petition has been filed with the election superintendent for verification.     No application for a recall petition shall be amended, supplemented, or returned after it has been filed with the election superintendent for verification.   Upon certifying the legal sufficiency of the application, the election superintendent shall immediately officially file the certification of the application, issue official recall petition forms, assign a number to the recall petition, which number shall appear on the face of each petition form, and issue that number to the sponsors. A record of each application, including the date of its receipt and the number assigned and issued to the sponsors, shall be maintained by the election superintendent.   The election superintendent shall immediately notify in writing the public officer named for recall in the application that a recall petition has been officially issued for circulation.   The official recall petition forms shall be printed by the office of the Secretary of State and distributed to election superintendents. The form of the petition shall be as provided in Code Section 21-4-7.    (C) The designation of one of the sponsors as the petition chairperson who shall represent the sponsors on all matters pertaining to the recall application and petition;   (D) A statement that: ______________ (name and office) has, while holding public office, conducted himself or herself in a manner which relates to and adversely affects the administration of his or her office and adversely affects the rights and interests of the public and stating the appropriate ground or grounds for recall as set forth in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (7) of Code Section 21-4-3 with a brief statement of the fact or facts upon which the ground or grounds are based. Such statement shall be typed, printed, or reproduced by the election superintendent on the face of each application issued; and   (ii) The affidavit required by division (i) of this subparagraph shall be in the following form:   AFFIDAVIT OF CIRCULATOR AND   PETITION CHAIRPERSON   State of Georgia County of ______________ Under the penalty of a violation of Code Section 16-10-71 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to false swearing, punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or by imprisonment of not less than one nor more than five years, or both, we the undersigned do depose and say that each person sponsoring or signing the recall application of ______________ is an elector of the electoral district of the officer sought to be recalled and further depose and say that the fact or facts upon which the ground or grounds for recall are based are true. _________________________________________________________________ (Signature of circulator) ______________________________________________________________________ (Residence address) (Number and street or route) ___________________________________________________________________ (City) ______________________________________________________________________ (Signature of petition chairperson) ______________________________________________________________________ (Residence address) (Number and street or route) ___________________________________________________________________ (City) Subscribed and sworn to before me this ______________ day of ______________, ________. ________________________________________ Notary public __________, Georgia My commission expires on the ______________ day of ______________, ________.    (Code 1981, §21-4-5, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1721, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1939, §§ 2-4; Ga. L. 1999, p. 21, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 23, § 3; Ga. L. 2001, p. 230, § 19.)   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 1990, p. 1939, § 8, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the Act shall only apply to recall proceedings under Chapter 4 of Title 21 which are instituted on or after July 1, 1990.   Law reviews.   - For article, "Local Government Law," see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 389 (2001). For note on the 2001 amendment to this Code section, see 18 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 114 (2001).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Editor's notes.   - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions decided prior to the 1989 revision of this chapter including former Code 1933 are included in the annotations for this Code section.   Initiation of second recall effort.    - Former Code 1933, §§ 89-1905 and 89-1914 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 21-4-5 and21-4-14) represent only constraints upon initiation of second recall effort notwithstanding previous but unsuccessful recall efforts made against the same public officer. 1981 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U81-11.   Application of 180-day rule to person appointed or elected to unexpired term.    - O.C.G.A. § 21-4-5(a) does not operate to bar the filing of an application for a recall petition during the first 180 days served by a person appointed or elected to fill an unexpired term of office of a public official, unless the attempted filing occurs during the first or last 180 days of the original term of office. 1992 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 92-12.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Public Officers and Employees, §§ 204, 206, 207, 213.   C.J.S.   - 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, § 272.