Organizers of a potential Boulder County ballot measure that would expand the Board of County Commissioners from three to five members turned in more than 18,000 petition signatures this week, well over the required 13,064 signatures from county registered voters, according to an organizer.

“It was a monumental effort,” said organizer Terri Brncic, who previously ran for the Boulder City Council. “We feel very confident we have the signatures we need.”

The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office has about a month to validate the signatures.

Aug. 13 is “the due date for us to issue the statement of sufficiency or insufficiency, and … there is a 40 day citizen protest period,” a statement from the clerk’s office said.

If it’s validated and moves forward, the measure will be added to the November ballot. Along with deciding whether to increase the number of commissioners, voters would decide how to elect them.

One option would be to redraw the districts the commissioners represent so there are five, then have only voters who live in each district vote to elect that commissioner.

The other option would be to elect two of the five commissioners at large, by voters around the county, while the other three are elected by district.

Now, each commissioner must live in a specific district, but each is elected by voters around the county.

If the measure were to be approved by voters, a full five-member board of commissioners would be in place within the next several years, according to the website in support of the measure.

The 10-member coalition of Boulder County civic and business leaders organizing the petition drive has said a change is needed as the county has grown and become more complex.

“The commissioners have so much on their plate,” Brncic said. “Three people is not enough. This is really meant to help.”

While Boulder County Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann supports the expansion, the other two commissioners — Claire Levy and Marta Loachamin — oppose it.

Brncic said two recent Boulder County issues spurred additional support for adding more commissioners.

One group joining the effort was mountain residents frustrated about how the county commissioners handled plans for drone aerial herbicide spraying of invasive cheatgrass in the Red Hill part of the Heil Valley Ranch area. The county commissioners went back and forth on whether to spray, Brncic said, with the decision depending “on which commissioners were in the room.”

The Boulder Mountainbike Alliance added its support after a controversial proposal for a pilot program to limit trail use for cyclists. The commissioners recently agreed to scrap the pilot.