(1) At the time the county board decides to hold an election pursuant to section 51-201 on the question of establishing a public library, the county board shall notify the governing body and library board of each incorporated area within the county and shall publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the county that the registered voters of the unincorporated area of the county and of the incorporated areas which do not have a public library will be asked to vote on the issue at the next statewide general election. The notice shall be delivered and publication shall occur prior to June 1 before the election.

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(2) If a city council, village board, or township board of a city, village, or township that has a public library and the library board, if one exists, of the city, village, or township both adopt a resolution indicating that they desire to merge the city, village, or township library with the county library if established and notify the county board by filing the resolutions with the county clerk by August 25, the county board shall submit the question of merger to the voters of the city, village, or township at the same time as the election pursuant to section 51-201.

(3) The registered voters of a city, village, or township that has a public library may file an initiative petition with the county board to require the issue of merger to be on the ballot in the city, village, or township. The petition shall be filed by July 31 prior to the statewide general election at which the issue would be on the ballot. Signatures gathered before the last statewide general election shall not be counted. An initiative petition shall conform to the requirements of section 32-628. Petition signers and petition circulators shall conform to the requirements of sections 32-629 and 32-630. The county board shall submit the petitions to the election commissioner or county clerk for signature verification pursuant to section 32-631. The required number of signatures shall be ten percent of the voters registered in the city, village, or township at the last statewide general election. The election commissioner or county clerk shall notify the county board within thirty days after receiving the petitions from the county board whether the required number of signatures has been gathered. If the county board determines that the petitions are in proper form and signed by the necessary number of registered voters, the county board shall submit the question of whether to merge with the county library, if established, to the voters at the same time as the election pursuant to section 51-201.