Sec. 3. (a) A petition must be signed by not less than five percent (5%) of the freeholders owning land in each of the existing districts.
(b) The court shall, before conducting an election under section 6 of this chapter, determine whether the petition bears the necessary signatures. If the petition does not bear the necessary signatures, the court shall dismiss the petition. The court may not dismiss a petition with the requisite signatures because of alleged defects without permitting amendments to correct errors in form or content.
(c) IC 14-33-2-16(c) and IC 14-33-2-16(d) apply to the petition.