Sec. 3. Form, number of signatures on petitions; oath; filing, endorsement of petitions.

Said petitions, before being returned and filed, shall be signed by qualified electors equal to twenty-five (25) percent of the number of votes cast, at the last preceding general election, for all of the candidates for the office held by such officer sought to be removed, and to each signature shall be attached his or her place of residence, giving street and ward number and date of signature. Such signatures need not all be on one (1) paper.

One (1) of the signers of each sheet of such petition, or the person circulating such sheet, must make and subscribe an oath on said sheet, that the signatures thereon are genuine.

All such papers for the recall of any one (1) officer shall be fastened together, and filed as one (1) instrument, with the endorsement thereon of the names and addresses of three (3) persons designated as filing the same.

Sec. 4. Adding or removing signatures prohibited after petition filed.

Whenever a recall petition has been filed with the clerk, and while said petition remains in his possession, or has been certified and submitted by him to the mayor and council, no signatures shall be added thereto or taken therefrom.

Sec. 5. Clerk to examine, certify petitions.

Within ten (10) days from the filing of such recall petition, the clerk shall ascertain, by examination thereof and of the registration books and election returns, whether the petition is signed by he requisite number of qualified electors, and shall attach thereto his certificate, showing the result of such examination.

Sec. 6. Notice of insufficiency of petitions; filing additional signatures authorized.

If his certificate shows the petition to be insufficient, he shall at once notify in writing one (1) or more of the persons designated on the petition as filing the same; additional signatures, properly verified, may be filed at any time within ten (10) days from the filing of the certificate. The clerk shall, immediately after such refiling, make like examination of the additional signatures, and attach thereto his certificate of the result. If still insufficient, or if no additional signatures are so filed, he shall return the petition to one of the persons designated as filing it, without prejudice, however, to the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.

   Editors Note: On March 14, 2007, in Fleischman v. Protect Our City, 214 Ariz. 406, 153 P.3d 1035 (2007), the Arizona Supreme Court held that A.R.S. § 19-121(B) preempts Chapter XXI, § 6 and Tucson Code section 12-59. A.R.S. § 19-121(B) provides that once petition signature sheets are filed in support of a ballot measure, "no additional petition sheet may be accepted for filing", and thus does not allow the filing of additional signatures within the ten days after the city clerk certifies a city initiative petition insufficient.

Sec. 7. Clerk to certify sufficient petitions to mayor and council; notice to officer; calling elections.

When the petition shall be found by the clerk to be sufficient, he shall submit the same, with his certificate, to the mayor and council without delay, and the mayor and council shall immediately notify the officer sought to be removed, and if the said officer does not resign within five (5) days after said notification, the mayor and council shall forthwith, after said five-day period, order and fix a date for holding the said election, not less than twenty (20) days nor more than thirty (30) days from the date of the clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition is filed.