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The Davis County Clerk/Auditor's Office rejected three controversial Kaysville petition initiatives Monday, based largely on the fact that some signature packets appeared to have been taken apart and re-stapled.
State and local laws governing citizen initiatives require that each signature packet include the initiative petition and a copy of the proposed law, Chief Deputy County Attorney William McGuire said in his April 19 opinion to County Elections Director Pat Beckstead.
"If it is clear from the packet that staples have been removed," McGuire said, "this would not be consistent with the statutory requirements and the packet could not be verified."
Other signature packets were discarded because the person signing on the back of each page to verify that individuals had signed the petition in their presence had also signed their names on the back of blank signature sheets.
"If a person ... has signed a verification with no signatures attached," McGuire said, "any additional signatures verified by such individual should not be certified."
The grass-roots Kaysville Citizens for Responsible Government needed to gather 1,431 valid-voter signatures to get each of the three measures on November's ballot.
The group collected 1,521 names in support of initiative 1 to change at-large city council seats to district representation; 1,511 for initiative 2 to limit the use of the city's electric company revenues to utility purposes only; and 1,473 to switch to a strong-mayor form of government.
Stapling issues, along with verifications written on blank signature pages, created enough suspicion to eliminate hundreds of signatures, and each initiative fell well short of the mandated standard.
Beckstead, who has worked in the County Clerk/Auditor's Office for 27 years, said her staff double-checked signatures and tried to give petitioners the benefit of the doubt. "We have to go with the counsel that our attorneys gave us," she said.
Petition proponent Richard Lenz said he believes the county's actions were politically motivated and his group plans to fight back.
"I'm more than a little hot right now," Lenz said, offended that McGuire "is trying to say we lied."
"You try turning a sheet 50 times and not have a staple come out," Lenz said. "There's nothing in the law that says the sheets can't be re-stapled."
Lenz also disputes the notion that some petition carriers signed signature pages improperly in advance.
"If (the county) had questions, there was a process where they could prove it," Lenz said. "They are making judgments based on assumptions."
Lenz sent a letter Monday to County Attorney Troy Rawlings requesting a meeting where initiative supporters can be heard.
"We'll do that first," Lenz said. "But if they force our hand, we'll take it to court."
Twitter: @catmck —
County rejects three Kaysville initiatives
Each measure needed 1,431 valid-voter signatures to be included on the November ballot.
Initiative 1 • would change the city's five at-large council seats to district representation. Disqualified packets caused the discarding of 393 names — 99 due to verifier disqualification and 294 for stapling irregularities. Of the remaining 1,127 signatures, 1,058 were valid.
Initiative 2 • would restrict the use of Kaysville Electric Co. revenues to costs associated only with supporting the utility. Disqualified packets caused the discarding of 370 names — 91 due to verifier disqualification and 279 for stapling irregularities. Of the remaining 1,141 names, 1,074 were valid.
Initiative 3 • would switch to a strong-mayor form of government, replacing the city manager's job with a full-time mayor serving as chief administrative officer. Disqualified packets caused the discarding of 459 names — 93 due to verifier disqualification, eight for no verification signature and 358 for stapling irregularities. Of the remaining 1,008 signatures, 949 were valid
Source: Davis County Attorney's office