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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 3-1009. PETITION CERTIFICATION
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1009.1Within thirty (30) calendar days after the acceptance of an initiative or referendum petition for filing, the Board shall determine whether the petition contains the number of valid signatures necessary, in terms of percentage and ward distribution requirements, to be certified for ballot access.
1009.2 Upon the acceptance of a petition, the Executive Director or his or her designee shall:
(a) Verify the registration of each petition signer; and
(b) Determine the number of signatures of verified registrants.
1009.3The signatures of the verified registrants shall comprise the universe of signatures from which a random sample will be drawn for purposes of verifying the signatures’ authenticity (“random sample universe”).
1009.4A signature will not be counted and included in the random sample universe
if:
(a) The signer’s voter registration was designated as inactive on the voter roll at the time the petition was signed;
(b)The signer, according to the Board’s records, is not registered to vote at the address listed on the petition at the time the petition was signed, except that, if the Board’s records indicate that the voter filed a change of address after the date on which the petition was signed but that was received on or before the petition was submitted, the signature shall be included in the random sample universe;
(c)The signature is a duplicate of a valid signature;
(d)The signature is not dated;
(e)The petition does not include the printed or typed address of the signer;
(f)The petition does not include the printed or typed name of the signer where the signature is not sufficiently legible for identification;
(g)The circulator of the petition sheet was not a qualified petition circulator at the time the petition was signed;
(h)The circulator of the petition failed to complete all required information in the circulator’s affidavit;
(i) The signer was also the circulator of the same petition sheet where the signature appears; or
(j)The signature was obtained on a petition sheet that was submitted on behalf of a previously filed initiative or referendum petition that was rejected or found to be numerically insufficient.
1009.5Each signature in the random sample universe shall be ascribed to the ward in which the signer was a duly registered voter on the date the petition was signed, except that if the Board’s records indicate that the voter filed a change of address after the date on which the petition was signed, but that was received on or before the petition was submitted, the signature shall be included in the ward of the voter’s new address.
1009.6If the number of signatures in the random sample universe does not meet or exceed the established ward and District-wide requirements, the Board shall reject the petition as numerically insufficient.
1009.7If the number of signatures in the random sample universe meets or exceeds the established minimum ward and District-wide requirements, the Board shall supply the Data Management Division of the Office of Planning with the signatures in the random sample universe, broken down by ward. The Data Management Division shall draw and identify for the Board a sample of one hundred (100) signatures from each ward to be verified, except where:
(a)The Data Management Division determines that sampling the signatures of a given ward would not be necessary for the Board to make a determination to accept or reject the petition; or
(b)The Data Management Division determines that a sample larger than one hundred (100) must be drawn in order for the Board to make a determination to accept or reject the petition, and thus draws and identifies an appropriate sample size.
1009.8In making the determination as to the authenticity of a signature, the Board shall disqualify a signature if the signature appearing on the petition does not match the signature on file in the Board’s records.
1009.9The Board shall report the number of authentic signatures in each ward sample (“random sample results”) to the Data Management Division. Using the random sample results, the Data Management Division shall employ formulas from the fields of probability and statistics to determine the following:
(a)Whether a ward equals or exceeds the required number of authentic signatures with ninety-five percent (95%) confidence, and should thus be accepted;
(b)Whether a ward does not equal or exceed the required number of authentic signatures with ninety-five percent (95%) confidence, and should thus be rejected; or
(c)Whether a larger sample should be drawn since no decision could be made with ninety-five percent (95%) confidence from the sample used.
1009.10If is the Data Management Division determines that at least five (5) of the eight (8) election wards have the required number of valid signatures, then it shall use a stratified random sampling formula to combine the figures from all wards which were sampled to determine whether the entire number of authentic signatures appearing on the petition is equal in number to five percent (5%) of the registered electors in the District of Columbia with ninety-five percent (95%) confidence. The Data Management Division shall request that the Board verify additional signatures for authenticity if a larger sample is needed to make a determination.
1009.11If the total number of authentic signatures equals or exceeds the ward and District-wide signature requirements with ninety-five percent (95%) confidence, the Board shall certify the petition as numerically sufficient for ballot access.
1009.12If the total number of authentic signatures fails to equal or exceed the ward and District-wide signature requirements with ninety-five percent (95%) confidence, the Board shall certify the petition as numerically insufficient to qualify for ballot access.