JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Duval County Supervisor of Elections workers are in the process of verifying each of the 35,000 signatures on a petition to put the question of the Navy's reopening of Cecil Field as a master jet base before voters, but a legal challenge from an opposing group will keep the initiative off the primary ballot.

VoteJacksonville.com turned in the signatures -- well over the 23,287 signatures of registered voters needed -- prior to Monday's deadline to get the initiative on the Sept. 5 primary ballot.

But it will take days for those signatures to be verified, and the issue must survive a legal challenge by a group opposed to reopening Cecil as a Navy base before the referendum can appear before voters.

"We're very confident in our legal position," VoteJacksonville.com's Ken Underwood said. "Over 35,000 voters have said that they think this is an important decision -- that it should be determined by the voters, and not the mayor and City Council."

Channel 4's Jim Piggott said the ballot for the primary is scheduled to be printed Tuesday and Florida law allows any opposing groups 10 days to challenge the certified petitions, so Elections Supervisor Jerry Holland said the ballot initiative can not appear on the primary ballot.

But if most of the signatures check out and the measure survives legal challenges, voters would see the referendum on the November general election ballot.

Last summer, as the Base Closure and Realignment Commission was looking for alternatives to Naval Air Station in Oceana, Va., Mayor John Peyton and other city and state leaders pitched the commission on moving the Navy's only East Coast Master Jet Base to Cecil, which a previous BRAC closed almost 10 years ago.

But facing opposition from vocal Westside residents and lack of support from the City Council, Peyton announced last October that he would not pursue the idea.

A group opposed to the Navy returning to Cecil Field notified the elections office Monday that it will legally challenge the signatures.

The Better Westside Project asked Holland not to place the charter amendment on any ballot until a court has determined the challenge and a complete check of all the signatures can be completed.

"In our support to make sure the Navy stays in Oceana, as they want, we decided to challenge these signatures to make sure they are legitimate," said Russ Stalvey, a Westside resident and one of the officers of the Better Westside Project. "There has been a lot of misinformation and propaganda flying around during the last few weeks. It is now our intent to challenge those lies and defeat this ill-conceived effort with the facts about why Jacksonville must keep the Westside moving forward with diversified commercial development."

Earlier this month, Jacksonivlle's legal counsel issued an opinion that the petition drive is invalid -- an opinion that crew harsh criticism from VoteJacksonville.com.

"It's a sad state of affairs when we have men and women fighting to allow free elections overseas when we have elected officials right here at home working to keep voters from exercising those same rights on the question of bringing the Navy jets back to Cecil Field, improving Jacksonville's economic future and making our area the leader in the defense of our nation," Underwood said.

The mayor's office said did not have any comment on Monday's developments, other than to say that they are not surprised that VoteJacksonville.com was able to gather over 35,000 signatures.