Election-date effort progresses

Local Tea Party activist Stephanie Taber is awaiting word from the Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s Office regarding her effort to move Chico City Council elections from November to June.

Taber announced on Friday (Jan. 14) in a press release that she’d turned in 1,621 petitions to the Chico City Clerk’s Office. The county clerk’s office is in charge of verifying and counting the signatures, said to total 8,002, according to a Jan. 15 Chico Enterprise-Record article. Taber believes she has enough valid signatures to put the issue on the ballot in June’s upcoming special election.

The petitions had not yet been received in Oroville as of Jan. 19, said Laurie Cassady, assistant county clerk/registrar of voters. When they arrive, her office has 30 days to count the signatures and, according to state law, verify a “500 random sample.” If a 95-100 percent validity rate is not achieved, said Cassady, her office will have an additional 30 days to conduct a “full check” of all the signatures.