Any political party seeking official recognition in this state after the effective date of this act shall file in its behalf, not later than 12 noon, June 1, prior to the primary election held on the first Tuesday of August in even-numbered years, or if such date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday, then before 12 noon of the next following day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday petitions signed by qualified electors equal in number to at least 2% of the total vote cast for all candidates for the office of governor in the state in the last preceding general election. Such petitions shall declare support for the official recognition of a political party, the name of which shall be stated in the declaration. No political party seeking official recognition shall assume a name or designation which, in the opinion of the secretary of state, is unreasonably lengthy or so similar to the name or designation of an existing political party as to confuse or mislead the voters at an election.

Petitions seeking official recognition of a political party shall be substantially in the following form:

PETITION SEEKING THE OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF THE ____________ PARTY IN THE STATE OF KANSAS

I, the undersigned, hereby declare my support for the official recognition of the __________________ Party.

I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered elector of the state of Kansas and the County of _________________, and my residence address is correctly written after my name.

NAME OF SIGNER  ADDRESS AS REGISTERED  CITY  DATE OF SIGNING

Appended to each petition page or set of pages shall be an affidavit by the petition circulator as defined in Kan. Stat. Ann. § 25-3608, and amendments thereto, of the petition affirming that such circulator personally witnessed the signing of the petition by each person whose name appears thereon. The affidavit shall be executed before a person authorized to administer oaths and include the address of the circulator.

Each page of such petition shall bear the names of registered voters of a single county. All petitions shall be grouped according to the county in which each was circulated before being filed with the secretary of state. All such petitions shall be filed at one time. Any related petitions presented thereafter will be deemed to be separate and not a part of earlier filings. County election officers shall cooperate with the secretary of state in verifying the sufficiency of these petitions as required by law.

The secretary of state shall transmit such petitions to the county election officer of each county for which petitions were presented to be examined for sufficiency pursuant to the provisions of Kan. Stat. Ann. § 25-3601 et seq., and amendments thereto, and applicable regulations. Not more than 20 days following receipt of such petitions from the secretary of state, the county election officer shall return these documents to the secretary of state certifying the number of sufficient signatures thereon. The secretary of state shall gather all petitions and determine whether a sufficient number of signatures was submitted. The secretary of state shall forthwith notify the person who submitted the declaration of intent to circulate such petitions of the sufficiency or insufficiency of the number of signatures.