7-2-2504. Verification of petition signatures -- county clerk's certification. (1) The county clerk of the county in which said petition shall be signed shall compare the signatures of the voters signing the same with their signatures on the registration books and blanks on file in his office for the preceding general election. The county clerk shall not retain in his possession any such petition or any part thereof for a longer period than 2 days for the first 200 signatures thereon and 1 additional day for each 200 additional signatures or fraction thereof on the sheets presented to him. At the expiration of such time, he shall file the same with the clerk of the aforesaid district court, with his certificate attached thereto as provided in subsection (2).
     (2) After comparing the signatures, the county clerk shall attach to the sheets of said petition containing such signatures, his certificate to the aforesaid district court, substantially as follows:
     State of Montana, County of ....
     To the honorable district court of the .... judicial district of the state of Montana, in and for the county of .....
     I, ...., county clerk of the county of ...., hereby certify that I have compared the signatures on (number of sheets) of the petition for change of name attached hereto with the signatures of said voters as they appear on the registration books and blanks in my office; and I believe that the signatures of (names of signers), numbering (number of genuine signatures), are genuine. I further certify that the number of genuine signatures hereto attached equals at least 25% of the whole number of votes cast for the office of governor of Montana in said county at the gubernatorial election next preceding the circulation of this petition. ^tur ...., County Clerk
     (Seal)          By .... ^tur Deputy ....
     (3) The forms herein given are not mandatory, and if substantially followed in any petition, it shall be sufficient, disregarding clerical and merely technical errors.

     History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 113, L. 1917; re-en. Sec. 4431, R.C.M. 1921; re-en. Sec. 4431, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 16-705.