The Rent Stabilization Ordinance petition is “deficient and invalid,” according the Office of the Glendale City Clerk, who announced the verdict on October 10.
The petition fell short of several requirements, which disqualified it from appearing on a future local ballot.
A prudent review of the petition revealed the following three causes for deficiency.
Missing Title and Summary: Petitions submitted do not contain in each section the ballot title and summary of the city attorney. The text of the measure is also not included anywhere in the Petition. CA Election Code §9203 requires that the text of the measure must be circulated.
Declaration of Person Circulating: Per CA Election Code §9209 Petitions submitted must contain in each section the declaration of the circulator. 772 pages were submitted without a declaration of the circulator.
White-out & Cut off Sections: A number of pages submitted had sections which had pages pasted and glued atop another page and sections which had been “whited-out” then filled in again. These acts raise questions about the voter’s intent and the contents of the Petition presented to each person who agreed to sign. It is unclear whether the California Election Code sections 104 and 9209 relating to the declaration of the circulator were followed. The number of signatures where parts are cut off and glued together equaled 571. There were 86 instances of whiting-out of information.
Each of the above reasons constitutes “a separate and unique basis” for denying the petition, according to a statement from the City Clerk’s Office. The number of signatures is not the sole determining factor in making this type of determination.
The petition was filed on March 20, 2017 and submitted with 11,164 signatures on 872 petition papers on Monday, October 2, 2017.
Glendale City Clerk assured the public that his office conducted a judicious review of the submitted petition.
“Our office has carried out its ministerial duty in ascertaining whether the procedural requirements imposed by the legislature and the State of California were satisfied by this process, and in this case, they were not,” stated City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian.
He added, “The citizens who initiated this petition certainly have the right to try again and must comply with all requirements of the California Elections Code when they do.”
For more information on the Rent Stabilization Ordinance Petition, please contact the Glendale City Clerk’s Office at (818) 548-4000 or visit glendaleca.gov. Also, follow us on Twitter at @cogCityClerk
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