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D.C. Municipal Regulations (Last Updated: September 13, 2017) |
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Title 3. ELECTIONS AND ETHICS |
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Chapter 3-10. INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM |
Section 3-1005. FILING PETITIONS
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1005.1An initiative petition must be submitted for filing no later than 5:00 p.m. on the one hundred and eightieth (180th) calendar day following the date upon which the Board provided the original petition form. A referendum petition shall be submitted for filing no later than 5:00 p.m. on the last business day before the act, or any part of the act, which is the subject of the referendum has become law. A petition that is not timely submitted shall not be accepted for filing.
1005.2All timely submitted petitions shall be received by the Executive Director or his or her designee. When a petition is offered for filing, the Executive Director shall:
(a)Count the petition pages and issue a receipt for the total number of petition pages submitted;
(a) Shall serially number the pages and obliterate any blank lines appearing on each petition page; and
(c)Prepare an initial total count, broken down by ward, of the signatures submitted.
1005.3A signature shall not be accepted, and shall not be included in the Executive Director’s initial total count, if it:
(a)Appears on a page that is not a reproduction of the form provided by the Board;
(b) Appears on a page which does not have a completed circulator affidavit;
(b) Was collected by someone who is not a qualified petition circulator; and
(d) Is the signature of a registered voter who submitted a notarized request to disallow his or her signature from being counted on the petition, provided that the request was received prior to the time the petition is filed.
1005.4If the initial total count indicates that a petition contains at least five percent (5%) of registered qualified electors in the District, the Executive Director shall accept the petition, post the petition for public inspection and challenge, and proceed with registration verification of petition signers in accordance with the rules of this chapter. If the petition does not contain at least five percent (5%) of registered qualified electors in the District, the Executive Director shall refuse to accept the petition and shall notify the proposer(s) in writing of the refusal.
1005.5If the accepted petition is for a referendum, the Executive Director shall request that the custodian of the act return it to the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia.
1005.6Within ten (10) days after a refusal, the proposer(s) of a rejected initiative or referendum petition may petition the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for a writ in the nature of mandamus to compel the Board to accept the petition. The Board shall retain the submitted petition pending appeal.