On Monday, Sept. 11, organizers and activists opposed to the controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Facility, submitted more than 110,000 petition signatures to City Hall to force a ballot referendum on the project better known as Cop City.
But their efforts may have been in vain as officials say the petitioners missed the deadline for submission.
Clerk Emeritus of the City of Atlanta Foris Webb III issued the following statement regarding today’s submission of petitions regarding Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center upon receiving the advice of counsel:
“[Monday] morning, we received petitions from those seeking a referendum on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and have locked them away in a secure location until we receive further rulings from the 11th Circuit Court. State law and the City’s code have a clear and strict 60-day deadline for petition circulation. Specifically, the law commands that a ‘petition … shall not be accepted by the council for verification if more than 60 days have elapsed since the date the sponsor of the petition first obtained copies of the petition from the municipal clerk.’ The original petition was issued on June 21, making August 21 the original 60-day deadline for petition submission. The petitioners could have turned their petition in, on, or before, August 21, and indeed several times said they were going to do so but opted instead to take an additional three weeks to circulate their petition for signature,” said Webb.
Webb added, “Today, September 11, is 81 days after the date the sponsor of the petition first obtained copies of the petition from the municipal clerk, so the City is prohibited by state law from accepting the petition for verification, absent further guidance from the 11th Circuit. However, the City is willing to receive the signed petition pages into its custody, subject to the express understanding that such receipt does not…
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