(a) Upon receipt of the minimum number of signatures required, or a sufficient combination of such signatures and pro rata publication fee, the Director of Elections shall provisionally accept the argument for inclusion in the ballot pamphlet. Within seven days after the receipt of the petition, the Director of Elections shall notify the submitter of the petition of any deficiency in the in-lieu signatures submitted. The submitter may then, prior to the close of the period for the submission of arguments, submit additional signatures in compliance with the provisions of this Article governing in-lieu petitions, or pay a pro rata portion of the publication fee to cover the deficiency.
(b) If determination of the deficiency occurs after the close of the period for submission of arguments, the submitter, within 24 hours of being notified of the deficiency, shall pay an amount sufficient to cure the deficiency or the Director of Elections shall not publish the argument. In the event the Director of Elections does not publish the argument, the Director of Elections shall reimburse the submitter for any payment previously made.
(c) The submitter of an in-lieu petition may submit a greater number of signatures than required to allow for subsequent losses due to the invalidity of some signatures. The Director of Elections shall not be required to determine the validity of a greater number of signatures than that required to qualify the argument for publication.
(d) The author of an argument may submit both an in-lieu petition and deposit a fee which combined exceed the number of signatures and/or amount of money required to qualify the argument for publication, up to and including submittal of the full number of signatures and payment of the full fee. The Director of Elections shall thereafter refund any remaining portion of the fee not needed to cure any deficiency in the in-lieu petition caused by invalid signatures.
(e) If the number of signatures affixed to an in-lieu petition is 100 or more, the Director of Elections may use a random sampling technique for verification of the signatures. The random sampling shall include an examination of 100 signatures, or three percent of the total number of signatures submitted, whichever is greater. Upon completion of the verification of signatures in the sample, the percentage of signatures which are valid shall be applied and projected to the total number of signatures submitted.
(Added by Ord. 429-97, App. 11/17/97)