(a) For the purposes of this chapter, a person commits petition signature fraud if the person does either of the following with the intent to defraud:
(1) Intentionally collects for filing petition signature sheets with the knowledge that the person whose name appears on the signature sheet did not actually sign the petition.
(2) Uses any fraudulent means, method, trick, device or artifice to obtain signatures on a petition.
(b) A person paid by a political committee to employ or subcontract with persons who fraudulently obtain petition signatures or who obtain petition signatures through other unlawful means is not guilty of a violation of subsection (a) if the person does both of the following:
(1) Reports the suspected unlawful or fraudulent signature collection to the city clerk.
(2) Refuses to file the suspected unlawful or fraudulent signatures.
(c) A person who violates subsection (a) is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor, except that a person who engages or participates in a pattern of petition signature fraud is guilty of a class 4 felony and shall be prohibited from participating for five (5) years in any election, initiative, referendum or recall campaign. For the purposes of this subsection, "pattern of petition signature fraud" means that the person employs or subcontracts with persons to obtain signatures and at least five (5) of the employees or subcontractor's employees have been convicted of a violation of this section for one or more elections or recall campaigns in an election cycle.
(Ord. No. 11525, § 2, 2-21-18)