Charter Cities Urged To Review Petition Requirements

The League has developed a new model form for cities to help ensure compliance with all legal requirements for petitions submitted by residents.

Petitions play an important role in cities statewide. In charter cities, residents may have the authority to:

• Use initiative petitions to propose new ordinances or repeal existing ordinances.
• File referendum petitions to delay newly passed ordinances from taking effect until voters weigh in at an election,
• Submit recall petitions to remove and replace an elected official before the end of their term.
• Circulate ballot question petitions to place specific questions or propositions on the ballot.

Some cities in Minnesota offer model petition forms or outline the petition requirements in their city charters. However, these forms and provisions sometimes omit legal requirements, such as including the year of birth, which is necessary to confirm that a petition signatory is a qualified voter in the city. Cities may want to encourage their charter commissions to review petition provisions and model forms as part of their annual review to ensure consistency with state law and administrative rules.

Proposed Petition model form

The League has developed a Proposed Petition model form that charter commissions can use when updating their charter provisions and model forms. The model form is available in the League’s Handbook for Minnesota Cities, Chapter 4: The Home Rule Charter City.

While mechanisms such as initiative, referendum, and recall are limited to charter cities, elections on authorized ballot questions may occur in both statutory cities and in charter cities where the charter does not outline a specific process or method. For this reason, both statutory cities and charter cities should ensure all petitions comply with requirements in state law and administrative rules.

Statutory requirements

Minnesota Rule 8205.1010 outlines the specific information required for any election petition, including:

• Signature of each signatory.
• Date of signature.
• Printed first, middle, and last name of each signatory.
• Year of birth of each signatory.
• Residence address of each signatory.
• City or township of residence of each signatory.
• County of residence of each signatory.

For more information, see the League’s Handbook for Minnesota Cities, Chapter 4: The Home Rule Charter City or the League’s information memo on City Special Elections.

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