19-118. Registered circulators; requirements; definition
A. All circulators who are not residents of this state and, for statewide ballot measures only, all paid circulators must register as circulators with the secretary of state before circulating petitions pursuant to this title. The political committee that is circulating the petition shall collect and submit the registrations to the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall establish in the instructions and procedures manual issued pursuant to section 16-452 a procedure for registering circulators and shall publish on a website maintained by the secretary of state all information regarding circulators that is required pursuant to this section. The secretary of state shall disqualify all signatures collected by a circulator who fails to register pursuant to this subsection as provided for in section 19-121.01, subsection A.
B. The registration required by subsection A of this section shall include the following provisions:
1. The circulator consents to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state in resolving any disputes concerning the circulation of petitions by that circulator.
2. The circulator shall designate an address in this state at which the circulator will accept service of process related to disputes concerning circulation of that circulator's petitions. Service of process is effected under this section by delivering a copy of the subpoena to that person individually or by leaving a copy of the subpoena at the address designated by the circulator with a person of suitable age.
C. If a registered circulator is properly served with a subpoena to provide evidence in an action regarding circulation of petitions and fails to appear or produce documents as provided for in the subpoena, all signatures collected by that circulator are deemed invalid. The party serving the subpoena may request an order from the court directing the secretary of state to remove any signatures collected by the circulator as provided for in section 19-121.01, subsection A.
D. Any person may challenge the lawful registration of circulators in the superior court of the county in which the circulator is registered. A challenge may not be commenced more than five days after the date on which the petitions for which the circulator is required to be registered are filed with the secretary of state. The person challenging signatures may amend that complaint after the secretary of state has removed signatures and signature sheets as prescribed in section 19-121.01. An action pursuant to this section shall be advanced on the calendar and decided by the court as soon as possible. Either party may appeal to the supreme court within five calendar days after entry of judgment. The prevailing party in an action to challenge the registration of a circulator under this section is entitled to reasonable attorney fees.
E. The removal or disqualification of any one or more circulators does not invalidate the random sample of signatures made pursuant to section 19-121.01, and the secretary of state shall not be required to conduct any additional random sampling of signatures.
F. For the purposes of this title, " paid circulator" :
1. Means a natural person who receives monetary or other compensation that is based on the number of signatures obtained on a petition or on the number of petitions circulated that contain signatures.
2. Does not include a paid employee of any political committee organized pursuant to title 16, chapter 6, unless that employee's primary responsibility is circulating petitions to obtain signatures.
Section: Previous 19-112 19-113 19-114 19-114.01 19-115 19-116 19-117 19-118 19-119 19-119.01 19-121 19-121.01 19-121.02 19-121.03 19-121.04 NextLast modified: October 13, 2016