115.019.  Voters may petition to establish a board of election commissioners, procedure — form of petition. — 1.  Any group of registered voters from any county of the first classification not having a board of election commissioners may circulate a petition for the formation of a board.

  2.  The petition shall be signed by the number of registered voters in the county equal to at least fifteen percent of the total votes cast in the county for governor at the last gubernatorial election.

  3.  Petitions proposing the formation of a board of election commissioners in any county of the first classification shall be filed with the election authority of the county not later than 5:00 p.m. on the thirteenth Tuesday preceding a general election.

  4.  Each petition for the formation of a board of election commissioners shall consist of sheets of uniform size.  The space for signatures on either side of a petition page shall be no larger than eight and one-half by fourteen inches, and each page shall contain signatures of registered voters from only one county.  Each page of each petition for the formation of a board of election commissioners shall be in substantially the following form:

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If this form is followed substantially, it shall be sufficient, disregarding clerical and merely technical errors.

  5.  The validity of each petition filed pursuant to provisions of this section shall be determined in the manner provided for new party and independent candidate petitions in sections 115.333, 115.335 and 115.337.

  6.  Upon the filing of a valid petition for the formation of a board of election commissioners or upon a majority vote of the county commission in any county of the first classification with more than eighty-two thousand but fewer than eighty-two thousand one hundred inhabitants, it shall be the duty of the election authority to have the following question placed on the official ballot, in the same manner other questions are placed, at the next general election:

"Should a board of election commissioners be established in ______ County to assume responsibility for the registration of voters and the conduct of elections?"

  7.  The votes for and against the question shall be counted and certified in the same manner as votes on other questions.

  8.  If the question is approved by a majority of the voters at the election, a board of election commissioners shall be appointed as provided in this subchapter and shall have the same rights and responsibilities provided by law for all boards of election commissioners.

  9.  Any person who is a registered voter of a county of the first classification not having a board of election commissioners may sign a petition for the formation of a board in the county.  Any person who signs a name other than the person's own to any petition or knowingly signs the person's name more than once to the same petition or who knows the person is not a registered voter at the time of signing such petition, or any officer or person willfully violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a class two election offense.