The seven sponsors of a referendum on a controversial Kimball Junction development have been clear: don’t sign twice. Some claim it would invalidate voters’ signatures.
Given the unique circumstances of this referendum, Summit County Clerk Eve Furse says that’s not the case.
“We would not take any action against those people for having signed twice, and there is never a situation in which that would invalidate their first signature. The first signature is what counts, both in the way the software works, and also in the way the law works,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Feb. 27. “The consequence is, if there is a perception that somebody is intentionally trying to get away with something by signing twice, then it would get referred for investigation as to whether it should be a class A misdemeanor, and I've made clear I would not make any referrals for that.”
The sponsors didn’t respond to KPCW’s request for comment Feb. 27. Shortly after Furse’s interview, referendum sponsor Ruby Diaz took to Nextdoor calling the idea that people can or should sign again misinformation.
“Signatures are NEEDED for the referendum; DO NOT SIGN TWICE! Missinformation [sic] is being spread so that people can sign twice, which will invalidate your signature. Do not fall for it! DAKOTA PACIFIC is working hard to defeat the will of the people!” she wrote at about 10 a.m. Feb. 27.
Dakota Pacific Real Estate is the developer of a controversial 725-unit neighborhood in western Kimball Junction. The Summit County Council greenlit the proposal in December 2024, and agreed to partner with the company to redevelop the Kimball Junction library area with transit, civic, commercial and more affordable housing infrastructure.
The sponsors need 4,554 signatures by March 3 to put the council’s decision to a vote on the November 2025 ballot.
When sponsors turned in the first 25 packets of signatures last week, Furse informed them 21 of the 25 may be invalid. She says they could’ve been signed separately from the required voter information packet because of how they were bound.
“There is the requirement by the legislature that the packets be assembled as one unit that includes a copy of the law that's seeking to be overturned with the signature pages, and that they remain as a unit from before the signatures are gathered until they're turned in,” the clerk said.
That’s partly where the disagreement over signing twice comes from. Furse says up to 2,100 signatures could be invalid.
The sponsors disagree and said they’ll seek an injunction to force Furse to process them. With less than a week until the deadline, no such lawsuit had been filed in 3rd District Court as of Feb. 27.
“From our perspective, the county clerk is well outstepping her bounds on a couple of things,” Reed Galen, a Lincoln Project co-founder and volunteer signature gatherer, told KPCW Feb. 26. “One, she's wrong on the code. Two, her job is not to determine whether or not she feels like something is bound incorrectly or correctly. And lastly, from our perspective, she should not be taking things like social media posts and media outlets telling her that these things are happening.”
He referred to photos published by local news outlets of what some say appear to show signature pages being signed separate from packets.
Furse cited those photos, state code and judicial precedent in the 2021 case Smith v. Zook in her letter to sponsors about the packets in question. She maintains it is her job to make sure local referendum packets meet code; otherwise, she said someone else could challenge the referendum’s validity later on.
The part of state law establishing penalties for signing twice does not include a provision invalidating signatures. It does say, “the county attorney or municipal attorney shall prosecute any violation of this section.”
“The clarification is in what it means to sign it twice,” county spokesperson Derek Siddoway wrote to KPCW. “A person has to have the intent to have their signature counted twice. In this case, we know there is no intent.”
Furse says that’s why there’d be no crime for her to report to law enforcement.
“Also, if the first signature is void (because the packet is invalid), practically, there is only one signature,” Siddoway wrote.
Separate from the referendum effort, Dakota Pacific has filed to form a town on its 50 acres of land. State legislators have also proposed bills this session that Summit County officials say could determine what’s developed in Kimball Junction.
Both may affect whether a countywide vote could block the project.
