Petitioning Do's and Don'ts
Based on a petitioning guide from
Howie Hawkins, Onondaga County Green Party.
The first set of do's and don'ts
deals with
the legalities
and
technicalities
of collecting and witnessing petition
signatures. The second set that
follows deals with pointers
on collecting signatures.
LEGALITIES AND TECHNICALITIES
DON'T BREAK THE LAW: Make sure you witness each signature that you sign
the witness statement for at the bottom of the petition sheet. Do not
sign a witness statement if you did not see the signatures made. If you
petition with someone who is not eligible to witness because, for example,
they are too young to be registered, you can witness the signatures on
the petitions they carry if you see the signatures made. That way both
of you can go out together to collect signatures. But do it properly.
It is a crime to sign a witness statement for signatures you did not witness,
as well as to forge signatures.
KEEP PETITIONS AS NEAT AND CLEAN AS POSSIBLE
DON'T ALTER THE PETITIONS: The petitions may be photocopied. However,
they cannot be altered in any way: don't change the order of candidates,
alter the emblem, correct typos, etc.
USE A BLACK INK PEN: Use a pen with black ink. Dark blue ink is second
best. Do Not use pencils. Other color ink is technically legal, but other
colors do not photocopy clearly.
USE A CLIPBOARD: Use a clipboard so the petitions don't get torn and
messy. Use a legal-sized clipboard if the petitions are legal-sized. Cheap
clipboards can be found at office supply stores like Staples, Office Max,
etc.
SIGNATURE REQUIRED: The person signing the petition is only required
to put their signature on the petition. The address and printed name may
be filled in by the witness. As a witness, you may want to fill in the
printed name and address when you are going door to door with a street
list of registered voters (See STREET VS. DOOR-TO-DOOR PETITIONING below
about street lists) for the sake of neatness and correctness. You may
also want to print in the other information when petitioning on the street
with people who tell you their handwriting is bad or they have difficulty
writing due to arthritis, etc. But these signers must still do their own
signature.
SIGNATURE DATES: The Date should be entered by the signer or the witness
at the time the signature is entered. Use numbers, as in 7/8 for July
8 in the space provided. The year is already entered. It is a good idea
to fill out the date before handing it to the signer.
ORDER OF SIGNATURE DATES: You must keep the dates sequential down the
petition sheet. If later dates appear before earlier dates, the whole
sheet will be challenged.
WITNESS DATES: You must date your witness statement on or after the day
of the last signature on each petition sheet. Otherwise, all signatures
dated after the witness date are invalid.
WHO MAY SIGN: Any person who is registered
to vote in New York State may sign the
petition
unless that person has signed another independent
nominating petition for the same office
this year.
SIGNATURES BY NEWLY REGISTERED VOTERS:
Any voter who registers to vote during
the petitioning period may sign the petition
on the day of or after their county Board
of Elections has date-stamped
their registration form.
NAME: Tell signers to use the name they used to register to vote. Tell
them to be careful of middle names or initials, suffixes (Sr., Jr., III,
etc.), and maiden vs. married name. Prefixes such as Mrs. are not needed.
The full name is. For example, ask Mary L. Jones who woman who signed
as Mrs. Jones to resign as Mary L. Jones. If they can't remember clearly
what name they registered with the Board of Elections, just ask them to
make their best guess.
RESIDENCE: The voter must put down the residence address they gave the
Board of Elections when they registered to vote. P.O. Boxes are not acceptable
with the Board of Elections or on the petition (although some voters will
insist incorrectly that is all the Board of Elections has for them). If
the signer has a RR number, ask them to also put down the street address.
Some stubborn voters will only give you a P.O. Box or RR number. You will
have to look up their address with the street list you get from the Board
of Elections (for street lists, see STREET VS. DOOR-TO-DOOR PETITIONING
below).
TOWN OR CITY, OR COUNTY IN NEW YORK CITY:
Be careful here.
Outside New York City: This refers to the
governmental jurisdiction in which the
signer lives, not their mailing or street
address. People
often
fill in
the wrong town because
they confuse their town with the village
they live in or with the village or city
that they use for their mailing address.
Asking
in which
jurisdiction
they vote or pay property taxes
(not school taxes) may clarify things.
Check
the Town
or City filled in by the signer against
your street index when you get ready
to witness those sheets.
In New York City: In the five boroughs
of New York City, the correct county must
be filled in here. Not the borough, but
the county—New York County, not Manhattan;
Kings County, not Brooklyn; Richmond County,
not Staten
Island.
WHO MAY WITNESS?: Anyone who is a duly
qualified voter in the State of New York
may witness an independent nominating petition.
That is, any voter in any party or no
party
who
is registered to vote in New York State
at the time they witness and who has not
signed
for another candidate for the same office
or offices. The applicable provision of
the New York Election Law was amended by
the
state
legislature
in 2009
to conform
with the decision and order entered by
the U.S. District
Court for the
Eastern District of New York in Chou v. New
York
State Board of Elections, 332 F. Supp. 2d
510 (2004), which held that the requirement that
the witness to an independent nominating petition
be a resident of the political subdivision wherein
the
candidate is seeking election is unconstitutional.
DO NOT SIGN A PETITION THAT YOU ARE WITNESSING: You can't be a witness
for your own signature. If you witness you own signature, your signature
will be invalidated.
HOW TO FILL IN THE WITNESS STATEMENT:
1. Cross out any mistakes on the petition sheet with a single line and
initial the line at both ends -- the witness's initials, not the the signer's
initials!
2. Fill in your residence address as the Board of Elections has you listed.
You do not need to add your PO Box if you have one because the purpose
here is to establish your residency in New York. You do not need to add
New York as it is already printed on the form. All petition collectors
should check with their county Board of Elections to make sure they have
the correct residence for you. If you give a different address than what
they have for you, all the signatures you witness will be invalidated.
3. Fill in the correct number of valid signatures on the petition sheet.
If you count wrong, the whole sheet will be challenged.
4. Date and sign where provided in the form. Make sure the date is on
or after the date of the last signature on the sheet.
5. Fill in your Town or City and County. Be careful with the Town or
City. This is the town or city you live in, which may be different then
the village you live in or your mailing address. If in doubt, check with
your county Board of Elections.
Be careful to fill every part of the form in correctly. If you don't,
all the work you did collecting the signatures will be invalidated.
Don't fill out the witness statement until the petition sheet is completed.
(If you only got, say, 7 signatures on the sheet which holds 10 signatures
and want to turn it in, go ahead and fill out the witness statement. Then
start collecting more signatures with a new sheet.)
Don't wait to fill out the witness statements. Fill them out at the end
of each day for the sheets you complete that day.
HOW TO CORRECT MISTAKES ON THE PETITION: You can count on signers making
mistakes: wrong addresses, married instead of maiden names or vice versa,
wrong date, etc. The witness should cross out any mistakes on the petition
sheet with a single line and initial both ends of the line -- the witness's
initials, not the the signer's initials!
NEVER USE WHITE OUT ON A PETITION: It invalidates the whole sheet.
DO NOT NUMBER THE PETITION SHEETS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE: These will
be filled in when the petitions are assembled and bound for submission
to the Board of Elections.
FILLING IN CITY OR TOWN ON THE SIGNATURE
FORM: Be careful with the City or Town
part of the signature forms. In many cases,
a person's City or Town is
different than their mailing address.
The town or city required on the form is
the jurisdiction in which a signer votes
or pays property taxes.
If someone is not certain the name of that
jurisdiction, you will have
to
look up their residence in
your
county
Board
of
Elections' street index, which will
give that information for each registered
voter. The street list is public information
and
must be provided to you. The county Board
of Elections may charge a "reasonable"
fee. If they give
it to the Democrats and Republicans for
free, they must also
give it to you for free. Act as an official
representative of the Green Party
in making such a request to your county
Board of Elections.
POINTERS ON COLLECTING SIGNATURES
START NOW, DON'T WAIT: The close of the
petitioning period will be here before
you know it. Start collecting
signatures today. Try to go out for a period
every day from
now on. If you wait, you may run into a
string of rainy days or miserably hot
and humid days later on. Consistently going
out for some time every
day possible will be a lot less stressful
than trying to do it in a fewer number
of long days out on the streets. Carry
your petitions where ever
you go and ask every acquaitance you see
to sign.
APPROACHING VOTERS:
Be brief, positive, friendly, and to the point. It's best to get right
to the point, for example, "We need 500 signatures on our petition to
put _____ on the ballot as a Green Party candidate for __________. Will
you sign?"
What you say and do next depends on the response. If they say "I'm a Democrat
(or Republican)" you can say, "That's OK. Signing doesn't commit you to
voting for_____. It doesn't change your party enrollment. It just gets
their name on the ballot."
Other useful brief responses:
- "It just gives people more options on election day."
- "It is just giving __________ a chance to run."
- "It's about democracy and letting voters have more options."
KEEP ASKING FOR SIGNATURES -- DON'T TAKE REJECTIONS PERSONALLY:
You may have to ask 3, 5, or 10 times for every signature you get.
You may hit a dry spell where you have to ask 30 times before someone
signs. Later you may get 5 or 10 signers in a row.
Just keep asking and don't let rejections get you down.
Have patience and persistence. Keep asking for signatures.
Expect occassional hostile responses
Just smile about the occassional insult hurled your way.
You'll just as often get encouragement from another voter.
Resist the temptation to argue back at the insulters. Just ask the next
voter for a signature.
YOU REPRESENT THE CANDIDATE AND THE GREEN
PARTY—DRESS AND ACT APPROPRIATELY
EDUCATE VOTERS AFTER THEY SIGN (OR DON'T SIGN):
Avoid giving them a flyer about the candidate before they sign or refuse
to sign. Otherwise, they'll often say, "Let me read this first. Maybe
I'll sign next time," and you'll never see them again.
You should, however, give them a flyer after they either sign or don't
sign. Get the flyer from the candidate. It's easier to handle your clipboard
if you have one sheet to hand them for all the candidates you are carrying
petitions for.
AVOID LONG POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS: Your goal right now is to get as many
signatures as possible. Some people may want to engage you in a long political
discussion. Politely tell them that we need to get ____ good signatures
in five weeks and you would be happy to continue the discussion after
the petitioning period is over.
RECRUIT VOLUNTEERS: Some signers will be particularly supportive. Ask
them to help by collecting signatures, making a campaign contribution,
hosting a house meeting, joining your Green local, whatever seems appropriate
for them.
STREET VS. DOOR-TO-DOOR PETITIONING:
You can collect signatures at a public place from passers by, or you can
go door-to-door with a street list of voters. Both methods have their
advantages and disadvantages
Street Petitioning: At a good spot in a public place, you can collect
as many as 20 or 30 signatures an hour. The disadvantage is that the proportion
of invalid signatures from people who are not actually registered is often
half of the signatures or more. It is also not possible to look up their
Town or City on your county's street index (or guide or finder) if they
are from another county.
Finding good public places can be a challenge. Private supermarkets and
malls do not have to let you petition in their parking lots. You can either
ask the manager for permission, or petition until they ask you to leave.
Post offices also do not have to let you petition in their parking lots.
The sidewalks in front of post offices are public, but sometimes the post
offices will ask you to leave there, too. Don't make a federal case if
they do ask you to leave the sidewalk. We need you out petitioning, not
dealing with the courts. Just find another place to petition.
Outside concerts, street fairs, political events, county fairs, and so
forth are often good spots for street petitioning. Check the papers for
events in your area.
Door to Door Petitioning: Depending on the time of day and the neighborhood,
door to door petitioning will yield 5 to 10 signatures an hour. It's slower
than street petitioning because you have to ring the bell or knock and
wait for someone to answer (or not). The advantage is that you will know
they are good signatures if you use a street list of voters from your
county Board of Elections. The street lists list voters sequentially by
street and number, so you can use the list to go down the street only
knocking on doors with registered voters. You can also tell by the lists
the age, party affiliation, and voting frequency of the registered voters.
After you've been petitioning for a while, you will get a sense of who
is signing, for example, independent female voters under 40, and you can
emphasize those voters to get a higher yield for the time you spend knocking
on doors. You don't have to use a street list to go door-to-door. You
will still get a higher percentage of good signatures than street petitioning.
But using a street list is better if you can.
Street Lists: The Steuben Greens have obtained a street list for Steuben
County from the Steuben County Board of Elections. The street list is
public information and is provided for a copying charge to anyone who
requests.
Do both Street and Door-To-Door Petitioning: For most petitioners, it
will probably be best to do both street and door-to-door petitioning.
For example, hit the streets during the afternoon when people are out
and about and knock on doors between 5 pm and 9 pm when people are more
likely to be home.
In smaller cities and towns, where housing is relatively compact and doors
are accessible, you will want to do a good portion of door-to-door knocking
to get good signatures.
SET GOALS:
Each petitioner should set personal daily, weekly, and five week petition
goals. To give you an example, if you commit to going out two nights a
week for three hours door-to-door and average 7 signatures an hour, you
should collect 20 signatures each night. If you also commit to spending
2 hours two days a week street petitioning and average 15 signatures an
hour, you should collect 30 signatures a day. A week of this level of
petitioning should yield 100 signatures ( 20 x 2 nights door-to-door,
plus 30 x 2 days street petitioning). In five weeks at this level, you
should collect 500 signatures.
Others of you will only be able to commit to 25 or 50 signatures a week.
Everybody should make a realistic commitment given their circumstances
and then meet those goals.
PETITION IN GROUPS: It helps to get yourself out there petitioning and
meeting your goals if you go out with one or more other petitioners. You
can encourage each other, have a little friendly competition for the most
signatures, and even manage to have a good time petitioning. But don't
let the lack someone to go petitioning with on a day when you can petition
be an excuse for procrastinating. Do it yourself that day and then try
to get help the next day.
KEEP TRACK OF WHO HAS PETITION SHEETS
OUT: When you recruit petitioners, keep
track of who has petitions and stay in
touch with them. Petitions
that are not turned in do not count.
DON'T GIVE YOUR PETITION CLIPBOARD AWAY: People sometimes say they want
to take the clipboard into the house to have their spouse, friends, etc.
sign the petition, or say they want to take it to sit down and read it,
or the phone is ringing, etc. It is not a good idea to give them you clipboard.
They could put it on a table and spill a drink on it. Or they could really
oppose the candidate being on the ballot and start crossing out names,
rip it up, etc. Explain politely that you can't let the petition out of
your sight or your witness statement will be illegal, and that you would
be glad to come in. It is better to lose one signature than several pages
of signatures.
WHEN IN DOUBT, HAVE THEM SIGN: Some people won't remember if they are
registered to vote, or the address at which they are registered to vote.
If they are in doubt, have them sign. The names can be checked later against
the lists of registered voters.
VOTER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PETITION: Some
people will read the whole petition before
they sign. Click here for some commonly asked questions
and some suggested responses.
In the case of statewide candidates, the political unit referred to in the phrase "a registered voter of the political unit for which nominations
for public offices are being made," is New York State.
The committee to fill vacancies is a legal requirement. The comnittee
would meet to select a replacement if a candidates dies or declines the
nomination.
You may inadvertently collect some signatures
from outside the district. The team cleaning
petitions will be checking the Town
or City part of the signature
form using the list of registered voters
for the district.
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