Proponents must file an incorporation petition with the registrar once they believe they have enough signatures, and the registrar must verify the signatures and issue a certificate if the 25% requirement is met.
§2. Filing of petition; certification; forwarding to governor A. When the proponents of the petition for incorporation believe they have the signatures of at least twenty-five percent of the electors residing in the area, they shall file the petition with the registrar of voters for the parish or parishes in which the unincorporated area is located. (1) If the unincorporated area is located in one parish, the registrar of voters for that parish shall determine if twenty-five percent or more of the electors residing in the area proposed for incorporation have signed the petition. (2) If the unincorporated area is located in more than one parish, each registrar of voters shall determine the number of electors residing in the area proposed for incorporation and the number of electors who have signed the petition. In such cases, the registrars of voters shall confer to determine which one has the most electors residing in the area proposed for incorporation. The registrar of voters of the parish with the most electors shall combine his calculations with those of other registrars of voters to determine if the required twenty-five percent of electors have signed the petition. (3) The required percentage shall be determined on the basis of the number of electors on the rolls of the registrar of voters or registrars of voters at the time the petition was filed with a registrar of voters. B. If the registrar of voters determines that less than twenty-five percent of the electors have signed the petition, the proponents of the incorporation shall have an additional sixty days within which they can obtain additional signatures to the petition to meet the twenty-five percent requirement. If they fail to obtain the required percent of signatures within sixty days, no petition for incorporation of all or a part of the area proposed for incorporation under this Subpart shall be circulated for two years after the expiration of the sixty-day period. C. If the registrar of voters determines that the required twenty-five percent of electors have signed the petition, upon the initial presentation or upon the expiration of the sixty-day period for obtaining additional signatures, the registrar of voters shall issue a certificate stating that twenty-five percent or more of the electors residing in the area proposed for incorporation have signed the petition. The registrar of voters shall forward this certificate to the governor. Acts 1984, No. 536, §1, eff. Sept. 1, 1984.