Ames

This is a petition by William A. Ames to compel by mandate the County Clerk and the Board of Supervisors *321 of the County of El Dorado to certify as adequate his petition for the incorporation of delineated territory lying within that county or, in the alternative, to grant him additional time within which to perfect the petition.

Petitioner is the chairman of a citizens group which seeks to incorporate a new city on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Before this court he makes two contentions: (1) that respondent county clerk erroneously determined his petition to be inadequate for the reason that he failed to obtain sufficient “qualified signers” as those words are used in Government Code, section 34301 and (2) that the respondent board of supervisors erred in refusing to grant him further time within which to obtain additional signers as provided in said section 34301. All references by section numbers hereinafter are to the Government Code.

Section 34303 provides that: “Proceedings are initiated by filing with the board of supervisors at a regular meeting a petition signed by at least 25 percent of the qualified signers, representing at least 25 percent of the assessed value of the…