Section 21-4-11. Recall petition -- Determination of legal sufficiency of petition; time period for filing; amendment; notification of various persons of legal sufficiency of petition

   (a) The election superintendent shall be responsible for determining the legal sufficiency of the recall petition within 30 days after it has been filed with him or her; provided, however, that in cases where more than one recall petition is subject to review for verification, the election superintendent shall be responsible for determining the legal sufficiency of any recall petition within 45 days after it has been filed with him or her. The election superintendent or a designee is granted unrestricted authority to examine the registration records maintained by the board of registrars, to receive evidence and testimony, and to require the personal appearance of any person signing such recall petition for the purpose of determining if the signers are qualified electors eligible to sign the recall petition. If the election superintendent shall not be reasonably able to ascertain that any signature is that of a qualified elector eligible to sign the recall petition, such signature shall not be counted in determining whether the petition contains a sufficient number of signatures as required by law. The nullification of a signature on any sheet of the recall petition shall not affect the validity of other signatures contained on such sheet.

(b) A recall petition shall not be accepted for verification for:

   (1) Any state-wide office if more than 90 days have elapsed since the date the official recall petition forms were issued to the sponsors;

   (2) Any officer holding an office other than state-wide office and for whom not less than 5,000 signatures are required for the recall petition under paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 21-4-4 if more than 45 days have elapsed since the date the official recall petition forms were issued to the sponsor; or

   (3) Any officer holding an office other than a state-wide office and for whom less than 5,000 signatures are required under paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 21-4-4 if more than 30 days have elapsed since the date the official recall petition forms were issued to the sponsors.
   (c)(1) No recall petition shall be amended, supplemented, or returned after it has been filed with the election superintendent for verification.

   (2) If a recall petition contains more than one sheet, such recall petition shall, when offered for filing, be bound together and each sheet shall be numbered consecutively at the foot of each page beginning with page one.

(d) Within five days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the election superintendent has certified the legal sufficiency of a petition, he or she shall immediately notify the Governor or the appropriate official, who shall call the recall election as provided in Code Section 21-4-13.

(e) Upon certifying the legal sufficiency or insufficiency of a recall petition, the election superintendent shall immediately notify the petition chairman and the officeholder in writing of the results and officially file the certification of the petition.

Code 1981, § 21-4-11, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1721, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1939, § 7.