Whenever ten per cent of the number of electors voting for governor at the most recent election in any county having less than sixty thousand population, as determined by the most recent federal census, petition a judge of the court of common pleas of the county, not less than ninety days before any general election for county officers, for the submission to the electors of the county the question of combining the probate court with the court of common pleas, the judge shall place upon the journal of the court an order requiring the sheriff to make proclamation that at the next general election there will be submitted to the electors the question of combining the probate court with the court of common pleas. The clerk of the court of common pleas shall make and deliver a certified copy of the order to the sheriff, and the sheriff shall include notice of the submission of the question in the sheriff's proclamation of election for the next general election.
Each elector joining in a petition for the submission of the question of combining the probate court with the court of common pleas shall sign the petition in the elector's own handwriting, unless the elector cannot write and the elector's signature is made by mark, and shall include in the petition the township, precinct, or ward of which the elector is a resident. The petition may consist of as many parts as are convenient. One of the signers to each separate paper shall swear before an officer who is qualified to administer the oath that the petition is bona fide to the best of the signer's knowledge and belief. The oath shall be a part of or attached to the paper. The judge upon receipt of the petition shall deposit it with the clerk of the court of common pleas.
No signature shall be taken from or added to the petition after it has been filed with the judge. When deposited the petition shall be preserved and open to public inspection, and, if it is in conformity with this section, it shall be valid unless an objection to the petition is made in writing by an elector of the county within five days after the filing of the petition. The objections, or any other questions arising in the course of the submission of the question of combining the probate court with the court of common pleas, shall be considered and determined by the judge, and the judge's decision shall be final.
Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.52, SB 124, §1, eff. 1/13/2012.
Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.29, HB 48, §1, eff. 7/2/2010.
Effective Date: 08-22-1995
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