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County Referendum Petition Process:
Referendum Petition Cover and Signature Sheets (ORS 250.165)
The text, cover and signature sheets for a prospective referendum petition must be approved in writing by the county elections official before the chief petitioners may begin circulating the petition.
The chief petitioners must comply with specific detailed requirements when preparing their cover and signature sheets. Failure to comply with the requirements will delay the receipt of written approval to circulate (see requirements).
The ballot title drafting process and the collection of signatures can occur simultaneously. The chief petitioners are not required to wait for the ballot title before collecting signatures. Once the chief petitioners have received written approval to circulate from the county elections official they may begin collecting signatures.
Chief Petitioners
After preparing the cover and signature sheets for the prospective referendum petition, the chief petitioners submit a draft to the county elections official for review. A complete copy of the ordinance must also be submitted with the draft cover and signature sheets. If cover and signature sheets are submitted for approval by someone other than a chief petitioner, all of the chief petitioners must file written consent with the county elections official before the initial review of the cover and signature sheets.
See the Guidelines and Requirements for Petitions and the Sample Cover Sheet.
County Elections Official
After receiving the ordinance, cover and signature sheets from the chief petitioners, the county elections official reviews the sheets for compliance with the requirements for a county referendum petition.
- The county elections official contacts the State Elections Division to determine if the chief petitioners have filed a Statement of Organization. Cover and signature sheets will not be approved for circulation until the Statement of Organization and Campaign Account Information form have been filed.
- The county elections official reviews the text of the ordinance to ensure that the text reads exactly the same and is formatted the same as the ordinance adopted by the governing body. The county elections official also reviews the cover and signature sheets for compliance with the county petition requirements.
- See requirements.
- The petition will be circulated using the title of the ordinance as enacted by the county governing body or, if there is no title, the title supplied by the chief petitioner on the cover sheet.
- The county elections official prepares and mails a written notice to the chief petitioners detailing any corrections which must be made to the text of the ordinance, cover or signature sheets before they can be approved for circulation.
- Once the text of the ordinance, cover and signature sheets meet all of the requirements, the county elections official notifies the chief petitioners in writing of approval to circulate the referendum petition.
The county elections official informs the chief petitioner of the number of required signatures and the last day to submit signatures collected for the referendum petition.