The California Supreme Court has received yet another request to change how the gubernatorial recall election will be held, and Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has until Monday to respond.

A petition filed Wednesday by San Francisco attorney Mark Burton says Shelley incorrectly interpreted the state's election laws, making it too easy for candidates to appear on the ballot as possible successors should Gov. Gray Davis be recalled.

Gather more signatures

Rather than the 65 signatures and $3,500 filing fee Shelley has required, candidates should need to gather signatures from 1 percent of the number of voters registered for the previous general election, Burton contends.

In this case, the previous general election was last November's, in which 15,303,469 voters were registered.

So if Burton is right, a recall candidate would have to gather at least 153,035 registered voters' signatures.

State Election Code

Burton's petition notes that Shelley based his requirements on Division 8, Chapter 1 of the state's Election Code, but the very first section of that chapter says the entire chapter does not apply to recall elections.

He cites another section that says recall election candidate nominations "shall be made in the manner prescribed for nominating a candidate to that office in a regular election."

And the nomination process for a regular gubernatorial election involves the 1 percent of registered voters requirement, he claims.

The Supreme Court has given Shelley until noon Monday to respond, and then Burton has until Wednesday to file a final reply.

The court this week also received two petitions challenging whether successor candidates should even be on the ballot at all; they claim the lieutenant governor automatically takes over if the governor is recalled.