(1) A petition to qualify as a minor political party shall be signed by at least ten thousand registered electors and shall be submitted to the secretary of state no later than the second Friday in the January of the election year for which the minor political party seeks to qualify.
The petition shall contain the name of the minor political party, and the heading ofthe petition shall state that the signers thereof desire that it be qualified as a minor political party.
Each registered elector signing a petition pursuant to this section shall print the elector's name and address, including the street and number, if any. There shall be attached to each petition an affidavit of a registered elector who circulated the petition stating:
The elector's address;
That the elector is a registered elector;
That the elector circulated the petition;
That each signature on the petition was affixed in the elector's presence and is thesignature of the person whose name it purports to be; and
That, to the best of the elector's knowledge and belief, each of the persons signing thepetition was a registered elector at the time of signing.
(4) (a) Upon filing, the secretary of state shall review all petition information and verify the information against the registration records. The secretary of state shall establish guidelines for verifying petition entries.
No later than twenty-one days after receipt of the petition, the secretary of state shallnotify the minor political party seeking to qualify of the number of valid signatures and whether the petition appears to be sufficient or insufficient.
In case a petition to allow a minor political party to nominate candidates is not sufficient, it may be amended once at any time prior to 3 p.m. on the seventh day following the date of the notification of insufficiency. If such petition is amended prior to 3 p.m. on the seventh day following the notification of insufficiency, the secretary of state shall notify the minor political party of whether the petition is sufficient or insufficient no later than the fourteenth day following the date of the notification of insufficiency.
Upon determining that the petition is sufficient:
The secretary of state shall notify the minor political party and the clerk and recorderof each county that such party is qualified; and
Eligible electors shall be able to register as affiliated with such minor political party.
Source: L. 98: Entire part added, p. 252, § 1, effective April 13. L. 99: (4)(b) and (4)(c) amended, p. 769, § 35, effective May 20. L. 2003: (1), (2), and (4)(d)(I) amended, p. 1311, § 10, effective April 22. L. 2011: (1) amended, (SB 11-189), ch. 243, p. 1065, § 14, effective May 27.