# Section 5.60 Referendum – Procedures. Any legal voter, or organization of legal voters of Whatcom County may file a referendum proposal, against any enacted ordinance or portion thereof, with the County Auditor. The proposal shall be presented to the Auditor within forty-five (45) days after the ordinance is passed by the County Council. Within five (5) days, excluding Saturday, Sunday and holidays, the Auditor shall confer with the petitioner to review the proposal as to form and style. The Auditor shall give the referendum proposal a number, which shall thereafter be the identifying number for the measure. The Auditor shall then transmit a copy of the proposal to the County Prosecuting Attorney, who within ten (10) days after receipt thereof, shall formulate a concise statement, posed as a question, not to exceed twenty (20) words, which shall express and give a true and impartial statement of the measure being referred. Such concise statement will be the ballot title. The petitioner then has one hundred and twenty (120) days to collect the signatures of registered voters of the county equal in number to not less than fifteen (15) percent of the number of votes cast in the county in the last general election. The one hundred and twenty (120) day period shall begin upon receipt of official notification to petitioner(s) by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office either by certified mail or messenger. If the last day for collecting signatures falls on a weekend or legal holiday, then the one hundred and twenty (120) day period shall extend to the end of the next business day. Each petition shall contain the full text of the measure being referred and the ballot title. The Auditor shall verify the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition and, if it is validated, submit the measure to the people at the next general election that is not less than one hundred and twenty (120) days after the registering of the petitions. (Amended by referendum 1995)