(a) Any registered voter of the Town may file a sworn affidavit with the Iredell County Board of Elections containing the name of the Mayor or Town Council member whose removal is sought and a general statement of the grounds alleged for removal. The Iredell County Board of Elections shall provide the registered voter submitting the request with the official recall petition form that demands the removal of the Mayor or Town Council member. The petition form shall comply with all of the following:
(1) Be signed by the Iredell County Director of Elections.
(2) Contain the date of issuance.
(3) Be addressed to the Iredell County Board of Elections.
(4) Contain the name of the person to whom the form is issued.
(5) Contain the name or names of the Mayor or Town Council member whose removal is sought.
(6) Provide a general statement of the grounds on which the removal is sought, as alleged in the affidavit.
(7) Provide a place for signatures.
(b) To be sufficient, a recall petition must be returned to the Iredell County Board of Elections within 30 days after the issuance of the recall petition form and must bear the signatures of at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the registered voters of the Town as shown by the registration records as of January 1 of the year immediately before the recall petition is being filed. The signatures to the petition must be handwritten ink signatures. The signatures need not all be appended to one paper. Each signer shall add his or her printed name, signature, and the signer’s residential address.
(c) Upon receipt of a filed recall petition, the Iredell County Board of Elections shall conduct an investigation to verify the petition signatures by confirming that the signatures and addresses listed belong to a registered voter of the Town as shown by the registration records as of January 1 of the year immediately before the recall petition is filed. The Iredell County Board of Elections shall complete its investigation and issue its certification of the results of the investigation within 30 days after the filing of any petition. That period of 30 days shall be tolled for any period of time that is also either two weeks before or one week after a primary or election being conducted by the Iredell County Board of Elections. If, by the Iredell County Board of Elections’ certification, the petition is shown to be insufficient, it may be amended within 10 days from the date of the certification. The Iredell County Board of Elections shall, within 10 days after any amendment, complete an investigation to verify the petition signatures of the amended petition. If the certification of the results of the investigation shows the amended petition to be insufficient, a copy of the petition shall be returned to the person filing the petition, who may then choose to file a new petition.